


Hot By Striking

by Cerdic519



Series: The British Revolution [5]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: 17th Century, Army, Battle, Beheading, Embarrassment, England (Country), English Civil War, F/M, Friendship, Gay Sex, Harnesses, Inheritance, London, Love, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nobility, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Parliament (UK), Pining, Politics, Religion, Royalty, Scheming, Scotland, Secrets, Servants, Stucky - Freeform, Teasing, Thirty Years War, War Crimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerdic519/pseuds/Cerdic519
Summary: June 1641 to September 1642.The Three Kingdoms spiral inexorably towards civil war, not helped by massacres in Ireland and the king paying an ill-timed visit to the Commons with several dozen soldiers armed to the teeth. He is forced to flee London and, to the alarm of our heroes, seems set on Oxford as his capital. Danger looms – but an act of kindness may yet come to their assistance.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, minor Thor/OMC
Series: The British Revolution [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809640
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. Contents

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tafizgurl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tafizgurl/gifts), [Ardent_Autumn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardent_Autumn/gifts).



> The title comes from the phrase, believed to originate some two centuries before this story takes place, that one should not only strike while the iron is hot but to actually make it hot by striking, in other words to create opportunities rather than waiting to take advantage of them. It was said also by one Mr. O. Cromwell.....

A.D. 1641 (continued)  
 _56\. Getting The Hump_   
_57\. Accelerations And Ambushes_   
_58\. Massacres, Mishaps and Mince-Pies_   
_59\. The Grand Remonstrance_   
_60\. Naked Truths_

A.D. 1642  
 _61\. An Arresting Development_   
_62\. Birds And Back-Alleys_   
_63\. Manoeuvring For Position_   
_64\. When Is A King Not A King?_  
 _65\. Sealed And Not Said_   
_66\. The Fleet Is In_   
_67\. Delisting And Disgusting_   
_68\. And So It Begins_

MDCXLI-MDCXLII


	2. Getting The Hump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June-July 1641.   
> There are serpents, elephants and dromedaries (or possibly none of the above), but everyone panics nonetheless. A Protestation fails of its intent, the Queen changes her mind, and the king's opponents receive dreadful news from points west. Lucius Stephen Amerike is growing up fast but still asks the wrong question from time to time – although to be fair, when he is stuck with the worst 'parents' in world history, that is inevitable!

**June 1641**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“Uncle Jamie, what is a dromedary?”

Both men looked across at the boy.

“A strange word for you to have come across”, Jamie said, looking worried. “Where did you see it?”

“Father mentioned it in that letter the king sent to the Earl of Montrose in Scotland”, Luke said. “It contained references to serpents, elephants and dromedaries. Is it some kind of animal?”

Jamie hesitated.

“A dromedary”, he said slowly, “is a special type of assassin trained in the Mohammedan countries to target the sons of their Christian opponents. It comes from a word I cannot pronounce in their language but which means 'cutter of the line'. They kidnap the boy and then.... cut off his assets.”

Stephen winced, but Luke just looked confused – until the soldier gestured down to his own crotch. Then he got it.

“Oh Lord no! No!”

“And as your father is known to be linked with Pym and an opponent of the king who has held talks with the Mohammedan leaders' representatives – we all know that he will try anything, will Charles Stuart – then....”

He trailed off. Luke had gone deathly pale.

“Father?” he said weakly.

Stephen did try to keep a straight face, but he was unable to prevent himself from bursting out laughing. His son realized that he had been had and scowled mightily at them both.

“That was mean!” he hissed.

“Really, a dromedary is just a camel with one hump”, Jamie said with a smile. “A Bactrian camel has two; it is easy to remember because you just put the letters 'B' and 'D' on their sides.”

“I hate you both!”

Stephen smirked. And it was apple-pie for dessert so the boy could not storm away from the table or he would not get any. Hah!

MDCXLI

**July 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“So why is it called a Protestation, sir?”

Stephen managed to hide a smile this time. After the dromedary incident his son had been much warier about approaching his lover for information, and kept watching him warily as if fearful that he might try some other trick on him. Jamie, being Jamie, had played up to it every chance he had got, always making sure that he was caught with what Stephen called his 'scheming look' (the one which made the nobleman's insides tremble when it appeared in the bedroom) before quickly straightening his face and looking supremely innocent. Which always made the boy scowl even more!

“Parliament has called on every man in the country to sign this document, protesting – in other words, pledging – their allegiance to King and Church”, he said. “It is an attempt by Pym to calm things down after the execution of Strafford.”

“Will it work?” the boy asked dubiously.

“No”, Stephen said. “The king gave his word that he would save Strafford's life only to be beaten back from it by Pym's use of the London mobs. He will never forgive him that, just as he will never forgive himself for signing that death-warrant.”

“I suppose that at least he is a principled man”, Luke said.

“Principles are, despite coming from the same words, not always for princes”, Stephen said. “Great Elizabeth had some of the strongest principles of any ruler that we have ever had but she knew when to bend and how to work the system to her advantage, which was why she survived for so long despite all the dangers. This king takes a far more extreme view of his princely powers, and thinks that the Good Lord will always provide at the end of the day. He may well find out that the Good Lord has other plans.”

MDCXLI

**July 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Miss Prince had come round with a set of pastries for the family, along with some rather interesting news.

“I just had this from a ship that arrived to the docks this morning”, she said, looking worried. “I know that you get along with Pym but I would recommend that you not give this to him and his friends in person. They are ruined!”

“What?” Stephen exclaimed in alarm. “How?”

“The Spaniards finally tired of the goad that was Providence Island and have wiped out the settlement there”, she said. “And only a short time after the investors – who as we know are pretty much the king's leading opponents – had sunk another hundred thousand pounds¹ into the venture.”

She looked meaningfully at the nobleman, who saw all too swiftly just what this meant. At any other time the directors of the company would indeed be ruined as the investors would have been able to pursue them through the courts for at least some repayment of their losses. As members of parliament they were immune from prosecution – but only for as long as parliament was sitting. Their enemies would swiftly be putting it about that they were only keeping this parliament going to save their own skins, especially with a deal with the Scots so close.

This was bad!

MDCXLI

**July 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Lucius Stephen Amerike was a smart boy for someone still only fifteen years of age. But especially given his recent 'camel' experience, he did sometimes ask some rather unwise questions.

“I do not see why you are so annoyed, father”, he said as the three of them sat down to supper one evening. “You said that the queen would not now be going abroad after all, which was what you wanted.”

Stephen sighed. Henrietta Maria had decided that she was going abroad 'for her health' and his fellow members of parliament had immediately been suspicious. Her doctor had been examined (which had further offended those members who thought that Pym was going way too far) and all had seemed in order – until they had found out that she intended to take the Crown Jewels with her! Jewels that could easily be used as security to raise a huge army.

Worse for the nobleman, before this fact had emerged he had scoffed at his lover's cynicism and said that the queen just needed a break. Most stupidly of all he had accepted another wager – less than twenty-four hours before the whole truth had emerged, damnation!

“Your father assumed that the queen would not be so deceitful as to use our nation's treasures for her husband's military ends”, Jamie said with a smile.

The boy looked between them in confusion for some time before he got it.

“Not again!” he exclaimed. “Father! You accepted _another_ wager?”

“Your father is an accepting sort of fellow”, Jamie grinned.

“Just make sure you let me get to my room and have my earplugs in”, Luke grumbled. “Thank the Lord that he cannot get you pregnant, Father, or this place would be overflowing with brothers and sisters!”

MDCXLI

**July 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Stephen frowned over his letter.

“What does Fraser want?” Jamie yawned from his chair.

“You can recognize the writing from over there?” the nobleman asked, surprised.

Jamie grinned.

“I know that he gets Chatton to write his letters for him while the young fellow is impaled on the Frayer”, he smiled, “so the writing goes astray every time be 'accidentally' bucks up.”

Stephen shook his head at the fellow. His life seemed full of sex maniacs!

“Yes, he mentions that Chatton is 'sitting down on the job but still getting his 'deep and hard attentions'”, he smiled. “They are worried about all this hot weather, especially as Mrs. Sands has been doing her crystal ball thing again and saying it will last for months.”

“We should get the Stalwarton harvest in as soon as possible this year”, Jamie said. “I do not like this weather either. We will need every pair of hands that can be spared, what with having to keep the crops watered as well; at least the river is full so that is not a problem. I do not suppose Pym can spare you from keeping the king in check?”

“Fortunately your fellow countryman will likely help me there”, Stephen said. “The king is planning that once the final treaty has been signed with the Scots, he will head north to make it all nice and neat.”

Jamie looked at him sharply.

“You mean, to try to win us to his side with lots of titles and cash gifts”, he said shrewdly. “Disappointing but all too predictable for him. If he cannot see that my countrymen will never compromise over religion least of all with a quasi-Catholic like him, then he is stupider than even he looks!”

MDCXLI

**July 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

The hot weather did indeed continue, but thankfully by the end of the month Stephen had been granted leave to return to his estate.

“I owe Peter a favour in this”, he said as he sorted out his papers prior to departure. “He has a pair that he let me borrow.”

“A pair of what, father?” Luke asked, still giving his Uncle Jamie a sharp look as if he suspected the fellow of being up to no good. Although as Stephen's aching muscles could have confirmed, Jamie had been 'up' to that already. All last night. And this morning. Twice!

“Father!” the boy said exasperatedly. “You have that look again! Stop it!”

“Sorry”, Stephen said with utter insincerity. “Peter knows one of the members of parliament for Northumberland and they think differently on most things, so they agree not to vote at certain times so that they can have more time for other things.”

“I know what other things _you_ want to have more time for!” the boy grumbled. “That and the satisfied look on your face this morning, plus the amount of time you took to sit down. Honestly!”

“I aim to keep my liege satisfied”, Jamie said airily. “And my aim, along with certain other things of mine, is most excellent and sharp....”

The boy had already fled. They both laughed.

MDCXLI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) At least £16.5 million ($20.5 million) at 2020 prices._


	3. Accelerations And Ambushes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August-September 1641.   
> A man is 'accelerated' away from a life-threatening danger. Parliament continues to reduce the king's powers and a deal is finally reached with the Scots, but Charles Stuart again tries to divide his opponents. Stephen and his family briefly return to Stalwarton where things are hot, and there is a Remonstrance.

**August 1641**   
**Donnington, Berkshire, ENGLAND**

It was a few days later and the first convoy had taken them as far as Newbury on the Great West Road. They were spending the night in a nearby small castle which was owned by a cousin of Peter Amerike's wife. As Jamie so often said, it really was not what you knew in this world but who you knew.

And of course how much money you had.

Stephen went to collect Luke before going down to breakfast and an early departure, as they had timed their trip to meet a second convoy travelling from Portsmouth to Birmingham which would take them as far as Oxford. But when the two of them went into the dining-hall they were both horrified to find a Jamie who looked decidedly blooded.

“Uncle Jamie!” Luke explained. “What happened?”

The soldier looked down at his bedraggled appearance. Stephen realized at second glance that it was not as bad as it had first seemed; he had a large bandage over his arm which the blood had partly seeped through, but he seemed largely in one piece.

“I went to sign in to the convoy this morning and ran into a group of local ruffians who were trying their luck”, he said easily. “They ran out of it; I saw them off easily..... oof!”

Stephen had the rare pleasure of seeing his lover discomfited as Luke positively flew across the room to embrace him. The soldier looked taken aback at all this sudden emotion, but he still found time to glare warningly as his lover who responded with an innocent expression.

“Never leave me, Uncle Jamie!” Luke sniffed. “I love you too much for that!”

Jamie had to make an effort to pull himself together.

“I love you too, son”, he said, gently patting the boy on the back. “But I think you had better put me down while I am still bleeding.”

The boy backed away in alarm, so fast that he almost fell over his own feet and had to be caught by his father.

“I am so sorry!” Luke gasped. “What must you think....”

“That you saw someone who you valued was hurt, and reacted”, Jamie said smoothly. “As would any man with a heart.”

He was still watching Stephen sharply, and was probably not that mollified by the nobleman's arguably too definite nod. The look on the soldier's face made it clear that someone would be paying for that sass once they were safely back in Stalwarton.

At least Stephen hoped so!

MDCXLI

**August 1641**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

They had only been back a few days, but to Stephen it seemed like that had never left the Hall. Certainly he had not left his bedroom for most of that first day, Jamie having been less than impressed with his smirking back in Berkshire and having exacted full 'retribution'!

Stephen was also quietly amused that, from what Fraser and Chatton were telling him, the estate workers found it strange that the nobleman in charge of the estate was actually prepared to roll his sleeves up and do some work in the fields. He may have been aching in parts that really should not have ached, but he had returned home feeling good. Although he had been slightly puzzled when, this particular morning, Jamie had ridden off to get something and had come back with what looked like a basket of grass.

He should have known his lover better. Both Luke and Edward, the latter now eleven years old, came limping in that evening in very poor shape, both horribly sunburned. The soldier grinned.

“Hurt at all?” he asked.

“Yes!” Luke snipped. “A lot!”

“I had the servants make up a batch of sun cream that I came across while in Germany”, he said. “The herbs here are not quite the same as the ones over there so it may not be as effective, and try not to use too much of it, but you will each find a jar in your rooms.”

“Thank you, sir”, Edward said politely (Stephen had been a tad suspicious as to just how biddable the young lad was, but he had asked around and it was apparently genuine). “We do appreciate that.”

They both trotted off, and Jamie grinned at his lover.

“You not burned as well?” he asked.

“My skin is tougher, having worked out in the fields while growing up”, Stephen said. “As I am sure your remember, Father never passed up the chance to let us 'experience all types of estate work', or as Adey more rightly put it, to get some free labour out of us.”

The soldier chuckled.

“You had a letter from Pym while you were having to rush off and sort out that argument over in Wolfstown”, he said. “He says that they have finally reached a deal with the Scots and my countrymen will be leaving England once they have received the first instalment of their cash.”

“Thus buying him an extra couple of weeks”, Stephen observed wryly. “Anything else?”

“You were right about the king heading north to try to win my countrymen over, much good that that will do him”, Jamie said. “And he also said something about a Remonstrance. That was what Balmerino was done for; I wager he will be among the chosen lords for talks with the king just to rub his nose in it!”

“I hope that he enjoys his moment”, Stephen said. “It is virtually the same in England, a Remonstrance being a private letter from some of the barons to the king asking him to do or to not do something or other.”

“Pym did say one thing I did not get”, Jamie said. “He mentioned something about an acceleration.”

“That would be a writ of acceleration”, Stephen said. “Yes, I thought he would have to resort to that, or at least Diana did. It was over that fop George Digby¹ who suggested the Remonstrance idea, a list of all the king's wrongs in an attempt to keep parliament mindful of his sins and therefore united. He is the son of the Earl of Bristol; I pointed them out to you one time?”

“I remember, Dumb and Dumber!” Jamie grinned. Stephen shook his head at him.

“Digby defected back to the king over the Strafford business and he also upset his fellow members by trying to undermine Pym”, he explained. “The Commons was muttering about impeaching him and the only way that the king could save him from following Strafford to the block was through another of those medieval devices that he is so fond of, the writ of acceleration. It promoted Digby to the Lords immediately under his minor title of Baron Digby. A bit of a legal stretch but it saved his neck – Pym will not risk an argument with the Lords over someone so unimportant – although it does mean one less Royalist voice in the Commons.”

“What has this to do with a Remonstrance?” Jamie asked. “Come to that, what is the point of a private letter that no-one is ever going to see?”

Stephen just looked at his lover.

“Do you honestly think that Pym will not find some way to publish the thing?” he asked dryly. “No, the danger is that as well as solidifying his own supporters it will also do the same to those of the king. And some of them – especially Hyde² and Falkland³ – are highly able men. He may even fail to get it through the Commons, in which case the cause would be greatly damaged.”

MDCXLI

**September 1641**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Pym has sent to me that he will need me in Westminster soon”, Stephen said over the breakfast-table one morning, “although he says that it need not be until the harvest is safely gathered in. And with all we have done that can be early next month, with minimal losses despite this unseasonal heat.”

Jamie looked thoughtfully at him.

“I do not like us going to London in this heat”, he said. “They say the plague is so much worse in summer, and all those people....”

“Do you think that I should leave Luke behind?” Stephen wondered.

“I doubt that he would let you!” Jamie smiled. “I know that Edward wants to see the capital too, but luckily he is a biddable fellow and will not come if we tell him of the danger. I am uneasy about us in that dirty city, though, especially as there was plague in the docks the last time we were there.”

Stephen knew the unspoken truth there, namely that Jamie was more worried for him. As a soldier his lover had developed an immunity to most things as he had pretty much had them all in the field, but the nobleman was much more prone to catch colds and flu in winters and fevers in summer, although rarely serious ones. At least the terrible days of the plague striking London and killing hundreds of thousands of people were well and truly in the past now.⁴ 

“We have to go”, he said decisively. “Pym needs every vote that he can get and despite the arrangement that I have with Peter's friend, he did say that that does not extend to major votes like the one there will be on the Remonstrance. The king's visiting Scotland is I think untimely; he would likely win more support or at least Pym receive less if there was a royal presence at Whitehall as members cast their votes.”

“He may conclude his dealings with my countrymen and get himself back south in time to be there anyway”, Jamie said. “Sex?”

Stephen stared at him reprovingly.

“It is ten o' clock in the morning”, he pointed out.

Jamie rose to his feet and licked his lips.

“And?” he said lasciviously.

He had a point. And very soon Stephen got it!

MDCXLI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) John Digby, Earl of Bristol (b. 1580) and his son George (b. 1612). Barely half a brain cell between them, their charm and manners made the king rely on them frequently and more often than not disastrously. Their title died out with George's son John but through his daughter George was an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997)._   
>  _2) Edward Hyde (b. 1609). A skilled politician whose advice the king often ignored because he disliked 'melancholy men'. Hyde's wish for a peaceful settlement was totally impossible and eventually alienated him from Royalist hardliners. Once the whole mess was over he would write a famous history of everything that had happened. It is actually very good apart from his allergy towards full stops (periods). Hyde was later made Earl of Clarendon; his title died out with his great-grandson but his daughter Anne married James Duke of York (later James the Second and Seventh) making Hyde father to two Queens of England, Mary the Second (1689-1694) and Anne (1702-1714)._   
>  _3) Lucius Carey (b. 1610). Like Hyde, a man younger than Stephen and Jamie. A sensitive figure who, sadly, would meet a tragic end. His grandson Anthony was Treasurer of the Navy in 1695 when some islands were discovered off South America that would later be named in his honour. The family as of 2020 still holds the title Viscount Falkland, the current viscount being another Lucius Carey (b. 1935)._   
>  _4) Ah._


	4. Massacres, Mishaps and Mince-Pies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> October 1641.   
> The king destroys his own chances in Scotland, and the Irish seal their own doom by starting a full-scale rebellion. Luke volunteers to work in Miss Prince's bakery solely out of the goodness of his heart, and it is quite wrong of certain other people to snip that that is only because one Mistress Anne Cromwell works there. Especially certain other people who force him to sleep wearing ear-plugs, the horny bastards!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historical note: The 17th-century mince-pie contained meat, suet and spices, and was usually large and rectangular. Only during the 18th century did it evolve into the smaller, modern sweetmeat version of today.

**October 1641**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“Young Harry Vane seems a little too confident, in my opinion”, Stephen said over dinner that evening. “He writes to Pym that Argyll has assured him of the Covenanters' loyalty despite their apparent warmth towards the king.”

“It says something flattering about my countrymen that they are so polite, given all that the king has put them through”, Jamie said, yawning as he stretched for a slice of bread. "But he is right; there is no common interest between the king and his former enemies, and if Charles Stuart had the least amount of sense he would see that. Thankfully for them, he has none."

“You look tired”, Stephen said sympathetically. “Another lesson with Luke?”

“It is good that the boy listens to me and accepts the importance of being able to fight with sword and dagger should his new gun fail him”, Jamie said, “but now that he is sixteen he is becoming more of a match for me. Although I managed to gross him out today by telling him that he should never let himself become distracted in battle by thinking on those he loved. He was midway thought agreeing with me when he saw who I meant, and went into one of those huffs of his. Which of course distracted him and enabled me to take him down."

“What is our generation for but to traumatize the one after us”, Stephen smiled, "so that they will do the same to the one after them. What can Argyll hope to get out of the king, I wonder?”

“He has lured Hamilton into thinking that the next calling of the Estates will be more sympathetic to the royal cause”, Jamie said.

“Did he also sell him that bridge over to the New World while he was at it?” Stephen scoffed.

Jamie smiled at that.

“We Scots, like you English, are very legal-minded”, he reminded his lover. “Argyll plans to get the king to grant his sanction to call the next Estates, so that when it turns against him as it will, it will be by his own hand.”

“I would say that not even Charles Stuart would be that stupid”, Stephen sighed, “but I know the fellow!”

MDCXLI

**October 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Just how foolish the king could be had already been showed up in Scotland, the letter from Stephen's cousin Peter reaching them just over a week later. Ironically it did so a day before the ship carrying the English dispatches arrived from Edinburgh, having had to batter its way through heavy storms all the way down.

“This surely has to go down as one of the dumbest names to call something in all history”, Stephen said. “'The Incident¹'? Really?”

“We all know what a double-dealer the king is”, Jamie said, “so no-one will believe that he was not behind this plot to kidnap the Covenanter leaders. That his minions of the bedchamber have fingered Montrose fits very well with Argyll's wishes even if he must himself know the falsity of it, and many others will in turn believe it because they know of the king's character.”

“Montrose could not double-deal if his life depended on it”, Stephen said. "I am sure of that!"

“History is what people choose to believe or want to believe, not what happens”, Jamie said, “and my half-uncle is known to distrust Argyll as being an extremist. It does not help that he is a Lowlander while Argyll, despite his lands being generally further south, is most definitely a Highlander.”

“The old enmities from centuries past”, Stephen sighed. “This will give the Covenanters just the excuse they need to distance themselves from a traitorous king, much as he will protest his innocence. But with his reputation I am afraid that he is once again reaping the bitter harvest of his past actions.”

“Yet we can guarantee that he will not learn from this latest mistake”, Jamie said. "Idiot!"

MDCXLI

**October 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Luke had been helping out in Miss Prince's bakery next door. It would have been totally cruel of his father and his Uncle Jamie to have remarked that this by some amazing coincidence just happened to be when one Miss Anne Cromwell was also working there, so they did not. Even if the boy had to endure a whole lot of unnecessary smirking at the dinner-table.

_Every damn evening!_

“Anne's father came in today”, Luke said, eyeing both men warily as they kept faces that were almost too straight. “He is a scowler if ever there was one. I was glad when Miss Prince had a message and asked me to take it for her; I am sure Mr. Cromwell suspects me of something.”

“Gentlemen can be very protective over their daughters”, Jamie said with a slight smile, “especially given how some young bucks are unable to keep it in their trousers in this day and age.”

It was Stephen's turn to look sharply across the table. His son was now the same age as when he..... had been in that barn. Looking back it seemed like another world now, even if the very solid evidence of his actions was sat directly across the table from him, glaring at them both.

“Mr. Cromwell is not the most cheerful gentleman in England”, Stephen said, ignoring some wiseacre's pointed cough and spluttered 'not the most cheerful?', “but he has good standing in the Commons and is a friend of Pym as well as a cousin of Hampden. He reminds me a little of Montrose in a way.”

Both his lover and his son looked at him in surprise.

“How so, Father?” Luke asked.

“Both gentlemen are.... I would not say simple but very direct”, Stephen said. “I think that Cromwell is the cleverer of the two but both are highly principled; also that both appeal much more to the common man – and woman – than to their colleagues. And as we see every five minutes with the king, principles are all very well but they do not always make for a comfortable existence.”

“I was certainly not comfortable with Mr. Cromwell around”, Luke sighed. “Thankfully he had gone by the time I got back; Anne assured me of that. I do wonder what was in that message I took to Mr. Hampden though; he looked deathly pale when he read it.”

“This is London”, Stephen said wryly. “We shall all soon know, that I guarantee!”

MDCXLI

**October 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

They did. Unfortunately.

“I feared as much”, Jamie sighed. “Strafford, for all his failings, at least kept the lid on the tinder-box that is Ireland. Four cultures that pretty much hate each other living on one small island, and his removal let the whole thing blow.”

The news being passed around London was horrifying. The Catholic Irish, having suffered years of repression and being driven off their lands, had taken advantage of weak leadership from Dublin and had rebelled. Worse, they were not alone.”

“Why are there four cultures there, Uncle Jamie?” Luke asked.

“First you have the native Irish, who are all Catholic”, the soldier said. “Second you have the long-established English settlers from when the Plantagenets conquered most of the island in the twelfth century, who are mostly Catholic and have as they say 'gone native'. Third are the more recent English settlers, mostly in the Pale around Dublin and also in Munster in the south-west of the island. And last but not least is my own countrymen, who came from Ulster in the north of the island to settle in Scotland over a millennium ago and some of whom made the return journey under the late King James. These last two are as you know Protestant, and that is the trouble.”

“How so?” the boy asked. “Religion?”

Jamie nodded.

“It seems that the Old Irish, the second group, are either staying neutral for now or even throwing in their lot with the rebels”, he sighed. "That is I suppose understandable; they had looked to Strafford for certainty over their future being Catholics in a Protestant country, and now he is gone the king has thrown them to the 'mercies' of the Protestant rulers in Dublin. There are all sorts of terrible tales even at this early stage – the murder of babies, women being raped, the same sort of thing that did happen far too often in Germany in my time there. Time will tell how true they all are².”

“Or we could always believe the 'experts' in the news-sheets?” Stephen suggested.

“No-one”, Jamie said firmly, “would ever be _that_ gullible!”

MDCXLI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) So dumb that some four centuries later it is still called that._   
>  _2) Or at least Time would if historians did not get in the way. Reports at the time ran as high as 200,000 deaths. It is likely that in Ulster, where we have the most accurate data, about 4,000 people were murdered and a further 8,000 killed by being driven from their homes in winter. As Ulster is roughly a quarter of the island, those figures could be quadrupled to a total of nearly 50,000 deaths. Some people were murdered under promise of safe conduct, which inevitably led to reprisal massacres by both English and Scots later on._


	5. The Grand Remonstrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> November 1641.   
> A crisis evolves around who is to command the army to put down the Irish rebels, both sides suspecting (probably correctly) that the other might find other uses for it. And why is the king so slow to return to his capital where his supporters need every help they can get? It all comes down to a handful of votes one way or another, which has major consequences down the line in preventing one man from upping and leaving England for good this time. And in allowing one young gentleman frequently mortified by his 'parents' to get engaged.

**November 1641**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“Guy Fawkes's Night”, Stephen said as he came in, “and there were fireworks in the House today all right. Pym openly demanded control of the army that they are looking to send against the Irish, and Hyde came out in open opposition to him.”

“I like Eddie Hyde”, Jamie said, “even if he is a bit of a windbag.”

“That could not be a disqualification for my job”, Stephen said shortly, “or the place would be almost empty!”

“They are saying in the bakery that the rebels are fighting in the king's name, and that he is prepared to go and lead them”, Luke said. “Surely that cannot be true?”

“Never bet against the stupidity of Charles Stuart”, Jamie said. “There are few if any things he would not do if he thought it might give him an advantage over his enemies; after all he knows that the Good Lord allows such things for the likes of him. Though I know not why he is staying on in Scotland; my countrymen are furious with him over this plot to seize Argyll and they are just willing him to go so they can get on with running the country.”

“Even if he denies any links to the plotters, people will not believe it”, Stephen agreed. “First because of his bad reputation for honesty and semantics, and second because of his preferential treatment of Catholics at court. Having a Catholic wife is one thing but allowing her free rein to interfere in matters that are none of her concern, that is quite another.”

“Yes, a royal couple must work 'in harness' to achieve harmony for their peoples”, Jamie agreed, looking pointedly at Stephen as he said the word 'harness'. 

The nobleman blushed.

“Father!” Luke snapped. “You are doing it again!”

Jamie chuckled.

“Perhaps your father needs a lie-down....” he began

A door slammed as the boy stormed from the room.

MDCXLI

**November 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“What _is_ the king playing at?” Stephen wondered as he mulled over the latest news-sheet. “His presence in the capital might be the differencein stopping Pym's Grand Remonstrance, yet still he dallies in Scotland to no end.”

“He has been scattering titles like pennies in an effort to win over the unwinnable”. Jamie said. “Argyll is to be made a Marquess; I was surprised he did not jump all the way to duke but then that would likely have put Hamilton's nose out of joint. I suppose that it will give him more standing when he and my countrymen turn on the king, doubtless to his shock and surprise.”

“That is one of the downsides of the lottery that is monarchy”, Stephen sighed. “Sometimes you get a Great Elizabeth, other times you get either a Mary Tudor or the current idiot.”

“Diana says that his officials have been pleading with him to hasten south again, but so far to no avail”, Jamie said. “Well, if Pym forces his Remonstrance through by less than a score of votes, the king will only have himself to blame.”

"Like he would ever do that!" Stephen snorted.

MDCXLI

**November 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Few things in his life had ever scared Stephen (except possibly a certain look on a certain lover's face of an evening which really made the nobleman really think about the benefits of life-insurance!), but the very solid fellow sat across the table from him in the bakery was one of them. Even if it was a fellow member of parliament. Oliver Cromwell looked very much the country squire sent up to Westminster to represent the University of Cambridge. He also, as Stephen knew from reports, knew how to handle a sword. Very well.

He really wished that Jamie was here.

“They say your son is seeing my Anne”, the fellow said shortly. “Is that true?”

Stephen may or may not have gulped (he did).

“Yes”, he said. “They are the same age and.... it seems quite serious.”

There was another seemingly eternal pause during which Stephen knew the fellow was sizing him up.

“Anne is very determined, like her mother”, he said at last. “Normally I would not stand in her way....”

Stephen just knew that there was a 'but' coming.

“...but there is one thing”, the fellow went on. “As you know I and my friends have some interests in the Americas. I have decided that if this big vote of Pym's goes awry, then we will pack up and leave.”

Stephen knew that the fellow had at one time been all set to go to the New World had not the king refused permission for his ship to sail. He wondered again if Charles Stuart might come to regret that particular decision.

“Oh”, he said. “I see.”

“If he wins though”, Cromwell said, “then we shall stay and I suppose that I will have to let Anne have her way. Though you can tell your boy from me that they will not marry until she is eighteen, and if there is any funny business then he will feel the sharp end of my sword. Also that he will not have to worry about future offspring!”

Stephen narrowly managed to not cross his legs.

“He is not the sort to behave in such a way”, he said, noting the frown on the other man's face before quickly hurrying on to say, “but I will make sure that he knows the consequences of any such unacceptable actions.”

“The consequences will be damn painful!” his visitor said shortly, rising to his feet. “I have another damn committee meeting, so I shall be off.”

He nodded to Stephen and crossed to the door where Diana was waiting. She passed him some sort of bag and he nodded to her before departing. She came across to join the nobleman.

“Your boy certainly knows how to pick in-laws for you!” she grinned. “Though Anne is a good girl and they should do well together.”

Stephen shuddered. It was cold in this place.

“What did you give him when he left?” he asked curiously. “I did not notice him make a purchase when he came in?”

She grinned.

“He has a weakness for jam doughnuts”, she said, “and as he is in with the leading politicians I always make sure to slip him a couple when he leaves. Along with any juicy information I have picked up that may be of interest to him.”

“Have you heard anything about the king?” Stephen asked.

“Making slow progress south”, she said, “and he even plans to pause to celebrate his birthday _en route_ which will further delay him. Pym will get his vote before he arrives provided his opponents do not manage to delay it, which they do not have the numbers to do. But it will still be close; likely a dozen votes or less.”

Stephen nodded, thanked her and left.

MDCXLI

**November 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Luke bounced up and down anxiously as he waited for his father's return. Hence Jamie was more than a little put out when he came in and the boy rushed forward, only to look disappointed.

“It is only you, Uncle Jamie”, he sighed.

“Sorry it was not someone you wanted to see”, the soldier smiled. “I thought that by this hour your father would be here. It is well past midnight.”

“They are holding the final debate on the Remonstrance right now”, Luke said anxiously, “and they may even have had the vote. I know that Father does not like me staying up late but I so want to know what happened!”

“And I have news for him too”, Jamie said. “The king has sent ahead a list of all the new bishops he is appointing to various sees. Most of them his own men, but incredibly he has sent that renegade John Williams to York of all places! The second most important bishopric in the land and he gives it to one of his critics. I can only assume he thinks that it might swing a few waverers to his side.”

“I spoke with Miss Prince earlier”, the boy said, “and even she could not be sure which way things were going to go although she thought that Mr. Pym had a slight advantage. The king is reported to be due here the day after tomorrow – no, tomorrow now we are past midnight. So near yet so far!”

“The story of the king's.....” Jamie began, then stopped.

“What?” Luke asked.

“I hear footsteps”, the soldier said. “He is here.”

Moments later they heard the door opening, then Stephen came into the room. He looked surprised to see his son up but was clearly exhausted and in no state to reprimand him. He took a step towards them both then hesitated.

“Oh for Heaven's sake!” Luke exclaimed. “After all I have heard from your room,you can at least embrace each other without sending me blind!”

Both men blushed but lurched forwards into what qualified for one of the clumsiest hugs in history. After a while Jamie eased his lover into a chair while Luke pulled off his boots.

“I am beat!” Stephen sighed, “but we won! A hundred and fifty-nine to a hundred and forty-eight, a majority of eleven. If the king had been here and had persuaded just six men to change their votes, all would have been lost.”

“I would wager that his supporters did not take their defeat well”, Jamie guessed. His lover nodded.

“They tried to enter a protest but were shouted down”, he yawned. “It may even be that those who could not last the course and went home to their beds swung it for us. There will be more battles ahead for us no doubt, but for now I just need my bed.”

“I will go to mine”, Luke smiled, “especially as from your state, Father, I know that I will not be disturbed tonight.”

“Why not?” Jamie asked blithely. “I can do what I like with him and all he can do is scream like.....”

He stopped at the death-glare that he was getting, and instead helped his half-asleep lover to his feet so they could get to bed.

MDCXLI


	6. Naked Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December 1641.   
> Having suffered a shock defeat over the Grand Remonstrance, the king takes the decisive action of.... ignoring it. Instead he calls in all the absent members of parliament who, he knows, will secure him a majority in the Commons so he can set about undoing all these so-called reforms. John Pym moves against the bishops, the situation in Ireland moves from bad to worse, and talking of worse, both Jamie and Stephen are 'forgetful'.

**December 1641**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“More bad news from Ireland”, Stephen sighed as he read the news-sheet. “Our forces tried to relieve Drogheda but were routed at a place called Julianstown, just south of it.”

“IThey were foolish to offer open battle”, Jamie said. “Like with me and King Christian back in the German Wars, the best thing to do when outnumbered is to focus on defending first your key cities and strong points along with your supply lines. Not that treachery from within is not a danger but it would be their best bet for now, at least until some forces are sent. Lord knows it will not be that many what with the king and parliament unable to agree on who will be head of such a force.”

“Some of the king's supporters tried to get this sitting and all its laws annulled because of the London mobs”, Stephen said. “Sneaky. They claimed that they had felt unable to express their democratic wishes because of the mobs.”

“As if they would not be using them to their own ends if they had the chance!” Jamie scoffed. “Have you spoken to Cromwell over Luke and Anne since the vote?”

Stephen nodded.

“Now that he has decided to stay he has given his consent, provided that they only marry when she is eighteen”, he said. “So the year after next. I expect tears of happiness followed by the horrific realization that he has to wait at least two years, or as he will likely see it, a lifetime.”

There was the sound of a banging door from upstairs and what was definitely some whooping as a loud teenager descended the stairs. Jamie grinned.

“I take it that you 'forgot' to mention the delay bit?” he asked.

Stephen slapped his hand to his forehead.

“Memory like a sieve!” he proclaimed in mock horror.

Jamie chuckled as Luke entered the room.

MDCXLI

**December 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“Pym has outmanoeuvred his opponents yet again”, Stephen told Jamie as they sat on a bench by the river. It was bitterly cold but from what the locals around Whitehall had told him, likely not cold enough for the Thames to freeze enough so that one of the famous frost fairs¹ could be held on it. Luke had pouted at that, and he was still scowling from the realization that he would have to wait for his marriage for nearly two whole years. And that some horrible parent had 'forgotten' to mention that to him straight away!

“How so?” Jamie asked.

“He had a whole load of his supporters turn up at one of the quieter times of the day, then moved that the Remonstrance be published”, Stephen said. “The king has ignored it thus far but that will be much harder when it is in the hands of half of the city.”

“He will never yield control of an Irish army to anyone”, Jamie said, “yet Pym will never let him lead an army that he thinks or rather knows would be more likely to be sent against Westminster, not Ireland. I fear that this will end very badly, as I cannot see how either side can give way.”

MDCXLI

**December 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“At least the king being back in his capital means more customers for Diana's bakery”, Stephen said as they sat down to dinner one evening just after Christmas. He had promised his son that once they were back in Oxfordshire they would visit the next horse-fair at King's Linton or even Oxford itself so he could buy his son a full-sized mount.

Some sexy bastard across the table had really not helped by whispering how he would be 'mounting' a certain nobleman that same evening! Worse, Luke had overheard him and had scowled at them both for the rest of the evening. Ah well.

“And possibly cheered by the news from Ireland, now that Dundalk has been relieved”, Jamie said. “Or possibly not; the rebels' repeated claims to be fighting 'for King and Ireland' make many suspect just which side he will be supporting.”

“He only has himself to blame for that”, Stephen said unsympathetically. “I do not doubt that the fellow is as Protestant as most of his people, but if he will favour Catholics at every opportunity then people are bound to think the worst. Such as the idea that he will be viewing this huge Catholic force in Ireland and thinking of one day using it against us in parliament.”

“I would say that such a move would lose him nearly all his support in the much larger England”, Jamie said, “so not even Charles Stuart could be that stupid. But like you, I know him!

MDCXLI

**December 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“Pym has made his move against the bishops”, Stephen said as they lay in bed together the following morning, the nobleman still recovering from the soldier's attentions. “Also, sex at this ungodly hour is not something that a gentlemen should be subject to without warning.”

“I was celebrating the fact that Pym's move makes your position in parliament much stronger”, Jamie grinned. “By folding you into several different positions and fucking you until you tremble at the idea of the stairs!”

Stephen groaned. He really needed to sort out a bedroom on the ground-floor for daytime trysts like this, especially as he had to attend a sitting that afternoon. The Remonstrance had indeed deepened the divide between the king's supporters and his opponents, such that now a single member might be the difference between a vote passing or not.

His own member lay broken on his equally broken body, even if both shuddered as a familiar calloused hand made its way up his chest. His breathing may or may not have gotten slightly faster as well (it did).

“The young today”, his lover smiled. “No stamina in them.”

“I am but eight days younger than you”, Stephen retorted, not mentioning that he currently felt more like eighteen years older. “And I have to make it to the dinner-table before this afternoon's session, damnation.”

“Luke has had the staff lay out a cold collation for us”, Jamie said diffidently, “so I can fetch it in now you have recovered from my attentions.”

Stephen was about to thank him when he realized.

“Wait a minute!” he said sharply, wincing at how even a slightly raised voice made his head hurt. “That means you planned to seduce me all along.”

“Aye”, Jamie grinned, rising to his feet and donning his dressing-gown. “Wake-up, morning, when you come back from that talking-shop of yours and tonight. Four times in one day – if you last that long!”

Stephen was very much afraid that he might not!

MDCXLI

**December 1641**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“1641 was certainly an interesting year”, Stephen said as he took his coat off and dusted off the snow, “but the king has just made sure that the start of 1642 will rival it.”

“What has he done, father?” Luke asked. “Has he perchance introduced a law banning damnably inconsiderate soldiers from walking around the house stark naked?”

He looked sharply at Jamie who just shrugged his shoulders.

“When you have got it, feel free to show it”, he said carelessly. “And your father gets to feel it every night when...”

“Please tell us what the king has done before I get taken in for murder!” Luke said quickly.

Stephen chuckled at his son's discomfiture but complied.

“He has summonsed those members of parliament who are absent”, he said.

“Are there may of those, Father?” the boy asked. “I would not have thought with all that has been happening that men would wish to be absent.”

“It is because so much is happening that they choose not to come”, Stephen explained. “They think it safer to remain neutral until such time as one or the other party has a definite advantage, then they can join that side.”

“That is dishonourable”, the boy said, frowning.

“That is war and times approaching it”, Jamie said. “I saw much the same in Germany, many minor princes who would hang back to see which side was winning before joining it. If this king does end up going to war against his parliament then that is the best hope of finishing the dreadful thing before too much damage is done. Remember, the German Wars have been going for nearly a quarter of a century now because the sides are fairly balanced, and there is still no end in sight.

“There are at least a hundred of these 'missing members'²”, Stephen said, “and many of those come from the remoter parts of England and Wales which are more likely to support the king. He has set a deadline of the second week in January for them to attend, and after that he thinks that he will have a secure majority that can undo all Pym's work.”

“Pym is too smart for that”, Jamie said firmly. “He will come up with some clever scheme to make the king do something stupid.”

“Like this king needs a clever scheme to make him do that!” Stephen scoffed.

MDCXLI

The king may not have needed such a scheme, but unbeknownst to them all John Pym had one to hand.

MDCXLI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) From 1400 to 1835 (the removal of Old London Bridge) the Thames actually only froze over some 24 times, so about once every 18 years. However there was a surge of four between 1649 and 1666, the last one before these having been in 1635. The absence of the Embankment and modern bridges made a freeze much more likely._   
>  _2) There were likely one hundred and fifty unfilled places in this parliament, split between seats which no longer wanted the expense of returning a member to parliament and members who had been returned at the recent election but were wary given the political chaos and so found some reason to not attend. These absent members would have tended to have come from the further reaches of England and Wales, hence they would have likely been more Royalist than parliamentarian. The king would likely have secured at least a small majority that could have enabled him to get parliament to dissolve itself, upon which Pym and his friends would then have been exposed to the fallout of the recent Providence Island disaster. Except..... we'll soon see what went wrong._


	7. An Arresting Development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January 1642.   
> Three days in the bleak mid-winter that would change everything. The king makes a last-minute peace offer which, for some strange and inexplicable reason, his opponents do not trust him to honour. How utterly inexplicable! Enraged, he makes the fateful decision to arrest his opponents and leads a large group of soldiers armed to the teeth out of Whitehall, heading straight for the Commons....

**January 1642**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“It is rare that parliament sits over Yuletide, let alone on New Year's Day¹”, Stephen said, “but it shows how serious the situation is.”

His son just glared at him.

“What?” Stephen asked, nonplussed.

“I heard how you and Uncle Jamie welcomed in the New Year last night!” he grumbled. 

“Three times”, Jamie smiled unabashedly. “I did not know that your father had it in him. Well, he had it in him all right....”

“Uncle Jamie!”

The boy stormed off in a huff, although he took his plate with him. Stephen chuckled.

“I am worried about all this, beloved”, Jamie said, his face darkening. “I can see the king facing his own parliament across the battlefield one day.”

Stephen saw at once what he had left unsaid there.

“And you will want to be there”, he guessed.

“Pym has likely not thought that far ahead, but in any conflict the king will have at least one initial advantage”, Jamie said. “Most of the men with military experience, especially from fighting like I did in the German wars, will be on his side. It all depends on how those men answer their consciences – _or their wallets!_ – over the next few critical months, but if it does all go to hell in a hand-cart then Pym will need my services. Yours too, Captain America.”

Stephen smiled at the nickname.

“I will never be a match for you when it comes to fighting”, he said, “but I can use my wealth to raise some men for the cause. And the estate to feed them.”

Jamie just looked at him. Stephen looked back, then paled.

“Oh come on!” he protested. “After last night _and_ this morning?”

“I am feeling a need to 'raise a man' right now!” the soldier grinned. “And 'feed' the mighty Buckmaster into him. You only have a committee meeting this afternoon my liege, so prepare....”

Stephen was already out of the room. Jamie grinned wolfishly and gave chase.

MDCXLII

Less than five minutes later Lucius Stephen Amerike grabbed what was left of his food and left for a long walk, muttering as he did so about terrible relatives and the odds of getting adopted process. This was his life?

MDCXLII

Several aeons later, what was left of the nobleman sat down extra carefully at lunch and reached for the news-sheet, then winced.

“Hullo Father”, Luke said with what Stephen judged a maliciously loud voice. “You look tired.”

“More New Year celebrations!” Jamie grinned from across the table. “One has to mark all twelve days, you know!”

Stephen would have scowled at him but all those facial muscles took a lot of moving. Instead he slid behind his news-sheet and settled for a mild pout.

“Damnation!”

“What is it, Father?” Luke asked, still far too loud.

“The king has offered Pym the chancellorship”, Stephen sighed. “A last-minute olive-branch which he knows will be rejected, but which he hopes will make him seem in the right.”

“You do not wish for peace, Father?” Luke asked, surprised.

Stephen blushed.

“Of course I do”, he covered, “but no-one seriously expects Pym to trust in the king. He would have to be a complete fool so to do.”

His son eyed him thoughtfully then turned on a Jamie who looked far too innocent. The boy groaned.

“Not another wager!” he exclaimed. “You two!”

“I shall collect the rest of my winnings later”, Jamie grinned, rising to his feet. “See you upstairs, Ste!"

He strode from the room while Stephen wondered if one could indeed die from embarrassment. His son just glared at him.

"And to think, I have to come to your damn funeral!" the boy grumbled.

"It may not be that far ahead, son", Stephen sighed, hoisting himself to his feet. "Pray for me, will you?"

"I shall pray for better ear-plugs!" the boy snarked.

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

It was the very next day, and there had been a further development.

“That did not take long”, Stephen sighed. “Pym rejects the chancellorship – so the king moves to have him and his confederates arrested. And like so much with this monarch, makes a mess of it!”

“What happened?” Jamie asked.

“Eddie Herbert¹, the Attorney General, rose in the Lords and accused Pym, Hampden, Strode², Holles³, Haselrig⁴ and Montagu⁵ of treason”, Stephen said. “Five members of the Commons and one in the Lords. From the weird pause afterwards something was clearly intended to have happened – presumably a move to immediately secure them all – but nothing. I think that that idiot Digby was supposed to be part of it as he hared off to the palace almost immediately, my guess is that his nerve failed him.”

“I would wager that the Commons heard of it before he got there”, Jamie said. “Worse for the king, now they are alerted. I know Pym and Hampden, but who are the others?”

“That is what I do not understand”, Stephen said. “Denzil Holles was one of the two men who held down that idiot Finch back in 1629, yet Benjamin Valentine who joined him was not named. Arthur Haselrig and William Strode are opponents of the king but there are many with much more prominent roles. Eddie Montague is Baron Kimbolton, the son and heir of the Earl of Manchester and a family that straddles both sides of the religious divide, so again a strange choice. But whatever was planned by the king, it failed. Now what?”

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Jamie called it his sixth sense, the ability to somehow feel when something was not right. All that morning there had been a sense of unease around Westminster, with Whitehall Place almost deserted. Diana had warned him that something was afoot; news had reached the king that Pym intended to move an impeachment against the queen herself, so he would not react well to that. But what would he actually _do?_

Luke wanted to come with him so the two made their way down The Street to where it ended opposite the Houses of Parliament. The building somehow contrived to look even uglier every time that Jamie saw it but that was not important just now. 

What was important was the large body of soldiers following them down The Street, encompassing what was very clearly the royal carriage. The king himself was breaking every rule in the book and coming to parliament to secure his enemies in person!

“Go and get a message to your father that the king is coming with many men”, Jamie urged. “I am sure that Pym has other people in place to let him know, but one more warning cannot hurt.”

Luke nodded and took off along the short path to the entrance to the old building. There were some guards around – Jamie noted that they were the Westminster Trained Bands loyal to the king, not the usual London ones – but none of them saw any reason to stop a messenger entering the place. The boy disappeared and his surrogate father heaved a huge sigh.

This was bad!

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Edward Herbert, Baron Chirbury (b. 1582). Soon after the events described here he again earned the wrath of parliament by trying to alter their resolution that the king was making war against them. He retired to the Welsh March and thereafter largely kept out of things, although his home of Montgomery Castle would prove important later in the war. His title and line died out with his grandson._   
>  _2) William Strode (b. 1598), member for the tiny Devonshire constituency of Beeralston (now Bere Alston). He was likely included because he had been among the chief of those who demanded Strafford's execution, something Charles never forgave anyone for having had involvement in._   
>  _3) Denzil Holles (b. 1598), one of two members for Dorchester, probably included because he was a chief supporter of the Remonstrance._   
>  _4) Sir Arthur Haselrig (b. 1601), one of two members for Leicestershire and like Strode probably chosen because of his push to have Strafford executed. He later became famous for his Lobsters, a group of heavily-armed soldiers._   
>  _5) Edward Montagu (b. 1602), likely picked as the leader of Pym's supporters in the Lords. He would inherit his father's Earldom of Manchester later that same year; the title would later be raised to a dukedom and as of 2020 the current Duke Alexander (b. 1962) is a direct descendant of his._


	8. Birds And Back-Alleys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January 1642.   
> It's show time! The king charges into the House of Commons to arrest the five leading troublemakers, but he finds that his birds have flown. The London mobs riot, the king's supporters in the City are powerless and, fearing for his family's safety, Charles makes the decision to flee the capital. But not before an event which would have major repercussions for Stephen, Jamie and Luke, as the soldier and the boy come to the rescue of someone in a quiet back-alley.

**January 1642**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Stephen had known that something was afoot from the moment that he had taken his place in the chamber. It was not unusual for boys to bring messages to members while they sat but the cluster of members around Pym was the focus for an almost continuous stream of comings and goings. That was far from normal.

He almost missed the entrance of his own son at the door, and bowed to the Speaker before moving to greet him.

“What is it, son?” he asked.

“Uncle Jamie says that the king is coming, with many men”, Luke said.

He had spoken quietly so that they had not been overheard. Stephen nodded.

“Go back and thank him”, he whispered before heading back to his seat. He swerved to pass where Pym was sitting, talking quietly to Hampden. They both looked up as he approached.

“The king comes with soldiers”, Stephen whispered as he passed. 

“We have heard”, Pym whispered back, “but we thank you.”

The departure of the five members was delayed when the truculent William Strode wanted to stay and face the king, only for his colleagues to drag him out again by his cloak. Stephen felt the tension rise in the chamber; everyone knew that these were the men that the king wanted in the Tower, and now they were going. This was not good.

MDCXLII

It was barely ten minutes later when the door to the chamber was dramatically flung open and the king strode in. Stephen was not sure but he thought to catch an expression of surprise on the diminutive figure's face that his members of parliament were not more astonished at his advent. 

The king took off his hat and Stephen along with all the members did the same, then marched up to where Speaker Lenthall was sitting. 

“Mr. Speaker”, the king said heavily, “I must make bold with your chair.”

Lenthall nodded and made way for the king, who took his seat. Stephen did not fail to note that several of the king's soldiers were taking advantage of one of their number holding the door open to 'mark down' their targets, pointing their guns at them. One itchy finger and there might well be a bloodbath. What had the king been thinking?

Charles glanced to where there were five visibly empty spots on one of the benches, and this time Stephen was sure that he paled. He heard only dimly what the king said next, presumably a demand to know where the five members were, but Lenthall's reply jarred him out of his shock.

“My lord”, the Speaker said, bowing very deeply, “I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to tell but as this House is pleased to command me.”

Stephen stared in shock. Everyone knew that the Speaker was the king's eyes and ears in parliament; for the fellow to openly defy his master was unheard of!

“'Tis no matter”, the king said, clearly having to make a visible effort at recovery as he scanned the empty benches as if he thought some of his quarry might be curled up under them. “Mine eyes are as good as any other. Though I see that my birds have flown.”

He rose stiffly, nodded to both sides of the house and strode from the chamber. Stephen stared after him, aghast. This was terrible!

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“The king dared to ride into the city last night and demand that they had over the accused men”, Stephen told Jamie the following morning. “The man is insane! If Mayor Gurney had tried to do any such thing the citizens would have lynched him!”

He noted belatedly that his lover and son were both quieter than usual, and looked at them curiously.

“Has something else happened?” he asked.

“Possibly”, Jamie said. “We are not sure.”

Stephen looked expectantly at him.

“When Luke and I came back to the house yesterday”, Jamie said carefully”, we came across a gang of roughs tormenting a young boy who had just slipped out of the palace and was trapped down a back-alley. They had to feel the sharp end of my sword before they got the message, but they got the message.”

The nobleman looked warily at them both. There had to be a lot more to it than that.

“And?” he asked.

Luke coughed pointedly.

“For all he looked like any London boy”, he said, “this one turned out to be rather more. It was the king's eldest son!”

Stephen stared at the both, quickly calculating what this new complication was going to do with their lives. Honestly, it was getting as bad as one of his Aunt Agnes's writings....

He pulled himself up sharply. That he could even think such a thing showed just how unsettled he was!

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

It was four days later when it happened. There was a knock at the door – never a good things this late in the evening, so Jamie took his dagger when he went to open it – and Stephen tensed before he heard his lover call out the all clear.

“It is only Jet”, Jamie grinned. “Are you coming in, friend?”

Jet was one of the guards at the king's palace. His family were strict Puritans such that he had actually been christened 'Jesus-Died-For-Thou-So-Givest-Ye-Great-Thanks-To-The-Lord-Daily¹ Jones. Hence, Jet. He was a tall, sombre fellow who often gave the impression that he was not quite all there, but he was likeable enough and a useful source of information at times.

“I thought that you would like to know, sirs”, the guard said. “The king and his family have fled to Hampton Court. His Majesty feared for his wife's safety, what with recent events.”

Very improvident, Stephen thought. Charles Stuart would have done better to have brazened it out; his flight just made him look guilty.

“And his son the prince asked me to give Mr. Buchanan this, sir”, Jet said handing over a small bag. “He said that if you ever need it, present it to him and he will do whatever he can for you.”

He bowed to them all, and thanked Jamie for his tip before striding quickly away. The soldier locked the door after him then opened the bag and pulled out a small breviary², bejewelled in gold with several stones set in its cover.

“A princely gift”, Stephen observed. “Although a future king's favour may be worth even more. Well, we shall see.”

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

They had a surprise visitor the next day. Two in fact; Stephen's cousin Thor and the latter's lover Brennus. The nobleman wondered if he ever looked as utterly exhausted as his cousin did and would his lover not nod like that, damnation!

“Anne wants some new dresses and Baldur.... well, she has pretty much broken the poor fellow again”, Brennus grinned. “So my master said that he would come to London and pick them up for her. She ordered three from some Danish merchant and warned us to take care of them on our way home.”

“They are all safely in a chest”, Thor yawned, “and if the journey back is anything like the one down then he might as well pack me in with them! The fellow is getting worse, I tell you!”

Stephen and Jamie both chuckled at his expression, especially as he was all but nestling into his lover's arms. Sure enough, less than a minute later he was asleep. Stephen and Jamie both rose quietly to their feet and left them in peace.

“Poor fellow”, Stephen said, “knocked out by sexual exhaustion.”

“Poor”, Jamie mused. “An odd way to say the word 'lucky'.”

He looked pointedly at his lover who fairly bolted for the stairs. And by the way, it was a _manly_ whine so there!

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Rare but not unknown. The most famous example in real life was PraiseGod Barebon (we shall meet him later) who named his son If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Wouldst-Have-Been-Damned Barebon. The young boy grew up to become a leading light in the insurance industry – and changed his name to Nick at the first opportunity!_   
>  _2) A book detailing the times when religious devotions should take place._


	9. Manoeuvring For Position

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January 1642.   
> It is war in all but name as the king moves around his country to gather support and parliament prepares itself for the now seemingly inevitable conflict. There is a skirmish in the King's Town, and Stephen is forced to consider his own Irish angle to affairs as his king, not having alienated enough people in England just yet, may indeed be looking to the Emerald Isle for a solution to his woes.

**January 1642**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“It was the return of the conquering heroes”, Stephen told Jamie when he got back that day, “although I can hardly blame Pym for making the most of it. He knows as well as I do that the king will try to delay any conflict for as long as possible, thinking that time will make many people year for a return to the status quo.”

“The king is said to be moving to Windsor”, Jamie agreed, “which is a lot more defensible than that rogue Henry the Eighth's old palace. I still wonder how he had the energy to work his way through six wives.”

“Some men are quite insatiable”, Stephen agreed, earning himself a nod from his lover. 

“As well as damnably noisy!” muttered Luke from his chair.

Jamie visibly preened. He had quite literally fucked the nobleman hoarse the night before, and Stephen still found speech painful. Even more so when his lover gave him the sort of look that said he was more than up for a repeat performance tonight, if not even sooner!

“I would wager that the king regrets signing that bill that Pym slipped past him just before Strafford's execution”, the nobleman said, trying to steady his suddenly rapid breathing, “stating that this parliament cannot be dissolved except by its own consent. Otherwise we would have received a notice to quit before the king had reached his castle.”

“What do you think that Mr. Pym will do now, Uncle Jamie?” Luke asked.

The soldier smiled.

“What would you do in his position?” he asked. “You have been trained in military strategy as much as in fighting with weapons, and by a highly skilled tactician.”

“As well as an immodest and oftentimes far too loud one!” Luke snarked.

Stephen snorted over his lover's surprise at that comeback. Although he still got a sharp look that said he would likely pay for his reaction later.

_With any luck!_

“Build an army and deny your enemy the resources that he needs to fight”, Luke said. “Armies need weapons, so where are the big armouries? The Tower for one.”

“Very good, son”, Jamie praised, licking his lips slightly as he glanced across at his lover. “The three main armouries in England are the Tower, the docks at Portsmouth, and Kingston-upon-Hull, the port for the great northern city of York.”

“Goring holds Portsmouth, the traitor”, Stephen sighed. “He was one of those who blabbed over the Army Plot; parliament believed his promises of loyalty and even gave him money for his information. But all those weapons may be useless to him.”

“Why do you say that, Father?” Luke asked.

“We have loyal men in nearby Southsea and Gosport”, Stephen said, “and they will be watching him around the clock to see if he tries to send any weapons to the king. The place is also important for its position on the Channel; the king thinks that with a French wife he is bound to get help from France, the most self-serving nation that ever existed.”

“The king has a man in the Tower”, Luke said. “Can he not help?”

“The loss of London cripples him there”, Jamie said. “The dockers are blockading river-access and the local vendors are refusing him supplies. It is a siege in all but name, and the king will have no choice but to tell him to surrender sooner rather than later.”

“I am worried about Hull, though”, Stephen admitted. “There we have Sir John Hotham¹, who fought in the German wars like your Uncle Jamie. A bit of a loose cannon I am afraid; we have had to send several other men up to bolster – in other words, to watch – him.”

“I never saw a man so full of his own importance”, Jamie scoffed, “and I fought alongside Germans! Hull has a huge armoury plus the best walls of any city outside London. I do not think that it could ever be taken by siege, but treachery from within is another matter. Pym will do well to get as many of those weapons down to London as soon as possible, although even with them gone the city is more than worth having.”

“Why, Uncle Jamie?” the boy asked. “It is only one city, after all.”

“Because as I told you, the balance of advantage between offence and defence moves back and forth over time”, Jamie said. “Right now – and it is a comparison that I do not like at all but a true one – it is similar to that of King Stephen's time when holding a strongly fortified place needed a great effort to overcome it. Now we will have two armies that are mostly amateur, and although the king may find more support in the North he can hardly bring them south and leave a huge, hostile fort in his rear.”

“I see”, Luke said. 

“Because it never does to have a huge, hostile thing in one's rear, does it now?” Jamie grinned.

Stephen blushed fiercely at the innuendo and quickly hid his face, but not quickly enough.

“Uncle Jamie!” Luke exclaimed in horror. “You are terrible!”

“Your father says that I am rather good....” the soldier began.

Luke threw his book at him.

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“It is very different from the Cousins' Wars².”

Stephen yawned and looked up blearily at his lover, poised above him and clearly ready to resume his molestation of the nobleman. Now that the king had fled the capital there was less need for him to attend every debate in the Commons, which might have been a good thing - except that it meant he was more often home when a sex maniac of a soldier came in and wanted immediate sexual gratification.

Who was he kidding? It was definitely a good thing!

“What?” he asked with another yawn.

“Sexed you out good and proper, have I not, my liege?” Jamie smirked.

Stephen would have swatted at him but that would have required moving his limbs, which were still not talking to him after the soldier had fucked him while making him do a handstand. Seriously, the man was a complete pervert!

The nobleman amended that earlier assessment to 'an absolutely brilliant thing'!

“I meant that that conflict started when there was a definite clash at the First Battle of St. Albans”, Jamie explained. “Now everyone knows that we are headed to war but it is just a skirmish here and a scuffle there.”

“Has there been fighting somewhere, then?” Stephen asked.

“The king's men tried to secure Kingston up the Thames in Surrey", Jamie said, "I suppose to secure the road down to Portsmouth. But they were driven off and our men have placed a guard on the road. It will not be long before his few remaining supporters in parliament decide to give up and quit for their own lands.”

Stephen flinched as he remembered something.

“I promised to be in for the vote later today”, he groaned. “How am I going to be able to walk all the way to the House in this state?”

“I could have Luke get you a walking-stick?” Jamie suggested with a smile. “That would traumatize him even more.”

“Stop teasing the boy”, Stephen said. “He is nearly a man now, and will soon be married with a family of his own.”

“Little Amerikes who will come round and ask their Grandfather Stephen why he always looks so tired”, Jamie grinned.

Stephen just rolled his eyes at the pest. then sighed as Jamie again started to rub their bodies together. Seriously, this was his life?

Praise the Lord!

MDCXLII

**January 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“If the king did not know just how bad things were for him, he will when he hears this”, Stephen told his lover. “Lennox proposed that the sitting be suspended for six months 'to allow tempers to cool'. He was voted down by a clear majority of one hundred, which when one allows for those forty or so 'new' members is really something.”

“That will further dispirit the king's supporters”, Jamie agreed. 

“And Pym has had the brass neck to send a militia bill to the king”, Stephen said, “requesting control of an army to send to Ireland.”

“I am sure that Charles Stuart will claim that his enemies would likely turn such an army against him”, Jamie said, “yet somehow not see that exactly the same charge might be levied against him especially with his own dreadful track record. Ste, what do you know of the Earl of Essex?”

The nobleman was surprised and had to think for a moment. There were several things about that gentlemen one of which, rather unfortunately, touched on the insatiable sex maniac asking the question³.

“Robert Devereux”, he said. “He is about fifty now; I know Pym is surprised that he is still with the king given the way that he has been treated.”

“How so?” Jamie asked.

“He was given a command in the first of the Bishops' Wars”, Stephen said, “but refused one in the second. And of course there was that dreadful business with Frances Howard, his first wife. She wanted to divorce him and marry King James's first favourite Robert Carr, so the late king forced the earl to agree to it 'on the grounds of his infertility'.”

“Ouch!”

“I suppose his lust for power made him forgive if not forget”, Stephen went on. “I think that he served in the German Wars for a time as well, although he cannot have done particularly well as we would surely have heard of it.”

“There was fighting all over that blasted land”, Jamie said, “and I never heard of him so I assume that he was at best average. Diana thinks that he will defect to our side soon, and she is right about most things.”

“I have been directing more of my fellow members to her bakery, to help make up for the empty building across the road”, Stephen said. “Although I suspect that what with her other businesses she is likely richer than me.”

“Hardly”, Jamie grinned. “You have a hot kilted Scotsman who is prepared to fuck you senseless at a quarter to twelve some days.”

Stephen glanced across at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It read a quarter to twelve..... oh.

MDCXLII

A few moments later, Luke had to take another unscheduled walk.

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Sir John Hotham (b. 1589), member of parliament for Beverley not far from Hull. He and his son of the same name were often suspected of planning to change sides, with... results that we will see later._   
>  _2) The struggle between two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty for control of the crown (1455-1487), better known as The Wars of the Roses, a title it acquired thanks to Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott which he took from a scene in one of the Shakespearian plays based on those events._   
>  _3) It was alleged, probably correctly, that Prince Henry Frederick had slept with the Earl of Essex's murderous wife Frances Howard. But then, who hadn't?_


	10. When Is A King Not A King?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> February-March 1642.   
> Luke does some advance spring-cleaning by sorting out a room in the middle of February, as he once more endures having dreadful 'parents'. The queen decides on a new title that annoys a lot of people, and also to accompany her daughter and new son-in-law to the latter's native Netherlands, and the king is told that while he is the king, he is not the king. Obviously

**February 1642**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“Princess what, sir?”

Luke looked curiously at his parent. Stephen had noted that he had of late stopped addressing him as 'Father' now that he was approaching manhood. He felt a little sad over that if truth be told.

“The king has informed us that the queen will be accompanying her newly-married daughter to her husband's home in the Netherlands”, he said. “And young Mary is to have a new title, the Princess Royal.”

Luke frowned.

“But the princess is already royal”, he objected. “That is just stupid!”

“It is the queen's doing”, Stephen said, smiling as his lover entered the room. The French king recently adopted the practice of calling his eldest daughter 'Madame Royale' – the queen was the first to bear the title – so of course she wanted the same over here. I would wager that neither she nor her husband can see that reminding everyone of their ties to Catholic France is hardly going to help his situation just now.”

“Some people are saying that he plans to go over to Ireland and give them independence in return for their army to retake London”, the boy said.

Stephen sighed heavily.

“As Uncle Jamie so rightly says”, he said, “that is almost certainly untrue. The trouble is that the king's past actions will lead people to believe it, and they will react accordingly. What people think is history, therefore history is often what people think.”

“Uncle Jamie is right about so many things”, Jamie grinned. “Brilliantly clever, a soldier brave, and stealthy as a panther.”

“You were hardly stealthy last night, sir”, Luke said shortly. “I heard you. _Twice!”_

Jamie just shrugged.

"I actually am, Luke", he said. "You did not hear the third or fourth time – though that was likely because your father had lost his voice by then!"

Stephen blushed. And how could his lover strut while sitting down?

MDCXLII

**February 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Jamie looked up as a rather dusty Luke came into the room.

“Where have you been, sir?” he asked.

His sharp senses did not miss the slight smile at his no longer addressing the boy as 'son' but as an equal. Though he wondered at his appearance; he was normally quite well-kempt.

“I have been readying the spare bedroom in the other house, sir”, Luke said.

Jamie was puzzled.

“Why?” he asked. “Are we expecting company?”

Luke gave him the sort of look that teenagers have always given vexatious relatives, and will likely still be giving them hundreds of years from now.

“Well, it is not because the king declined to sign the Militia Bill today”, he said. “And it is not because Mr. Pym has already said that he will simply issue it as a Militia Ordinance¹.”

Jamie was still confused.

“Then what is it for?” he asked.

Luke sighed in a put-upon manner.

“Really, sir”, he said reprovingly. “It is February the fourteenth.”

Jamie stared expectantly at him.

“And?” he pressed.

“St. Valentine's Day?” Luke prompted. “I know that you are both men – believe me, after the other night I know that rather too much....”

Jamie blushed. He had persuaded his lover to wear the harness, one thing had led to another, and Stephen had had to send a note to parliament telling Pym that he had sprained his ankle. Which he had – among other things.

“What with all that has been happening lately, my father needs.... look, you know what he needs”, Luke said, his face bright red, “so do not make me say it as I quite like being able to sleep at night! So I am taking myself next door to the furthest bedroom there so that you....”

He trailed off. Jamie grinned.

“So that I can wave my arms about in a strange manner?” he asked innocently.

Luke gave him such a look!

MDCXLII

**February 1642**  
 **London, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

The following day Luke was not the least bit surprised when the soldier came down to breakfast alone, nor that he set aside a plate to take back up with him. Jamie came over and patted him on the back.

“Just to let you know”, he said, “I love you so much, Luke. You are truly a man now.”

The boy may or may not have puffed his chest out with pride at that. But then the soldier had to go and ruin it!

“Not, though, in the extremely flexible way that I love your father....”

“James Buchanan Barnes!”

The soldier snickered but patted the boy's back again before leaving with his food. Luke waited for him to go before smiling to himself. Honestly, those two!

MDCXLII

**March 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

_Dear Sir,_

_A small incident has arisen on the estate which I have had to deal with, and I thought it best to notify you of it. As you are aware the king is increasingly being linked to the murderous rebels over in Ireland and this has naturally made for a lot of anti-Irish feeling in this country. I had not thought this to have affected somewhere as rural as Stalwarton but Mr. Fraser alerted me to the fact that there has been trouble up in Wolfstown concerning Mr. Falstone. I do not think that you have met him as he works a farm on the other side of the town, but his son Rory was attacked by some local youths and I had to investigate._

_The damnable thing in all this was that Mr. Falstone is no more Irish than you or I but his brother is serving in the king's army over there and, to the idiots who attacked his son, is therefore deemed 'Irish' even though he is fighting against the rebels. I found out the miscreants – it will not surprise you in the least that it was that troublesome pair Samuel Beigh and Michael Bamber – and made clear to them both that any more trouble and they would be dismissed. I was tempted to do that anyway but Mr. Fraser advised me that Bamber has a young family while Beigh has two fairly reliable brothers on the estate. However both of them are now 'on notice' that any more such actions will have consequences, which I fear they will bring upon themselves sooner rather than later. Mr. Fraser says that their sort always do._

_Mr. Fraser is a most excellent steward but I am slightly concerned that he does not always take care of himself. His colleague Mr. Chatton is I know worried about him, and sometimes has to help him of a morning when he looks strangely tired. I have offered them a place in the house but they prefer to share their cottage across the river, just south of Charlton village. Some of the men did snigger at the fact that both my stewards wear kilts but that came to an end after I invited any who were unhappy with their dress sense to hand in their notice._

_These small matters apart all is quiet here, although Mr. Fraser warns me that that may well change in the near future. The king has apparently been looking at Oxford as a possible base for his operations in the conflict that we all know is coming and hope can be limited to just one major battle. If he does choose the town and we end up less than ten miles from the royal court, it will make for what Mr. Chatton calls interesting times. I do not know why but when he said that to me and Mr. Fraser, the latter blushed deeply._

_Yours respectfully,_

_Edward Stark (Master)_

MDCXLII

**March 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Jamie came in just as Stephen had finished reading the news-sheet.

“News from Hull?” the soldier asked. The king had gone to York and was clearly eyeing up the huge arsenal in the nearby port city, presumably unaware that his enemies in parliament had already spirited away most of said weapons.

“Surprising news from Hull”, Stephen smiled. “The king has been told that he is not the king!”

Jamie looked at him in confusion.

“What?” he said.

“He tried a clever ruse to get into the place”, Stephen explained. “He sent the young Duke of York² and a small party on what was ostensibly a goodwill visit, then then the following day a herald arrived to say that the king would be joining his son. Luckily Hotham saw the trap and went out on the walls, telling Charles Stuart that he could not open the gates without a direct royal command from the king.”

“Which the king then gave him?” Jamie guessed.

Stephen nodded.

“Then Hotham said that what he actually meant was a direct order from the sovereign authority of the king”, he said, “which in his eyes was ultimately vested in parliament. The king was furious but he had nothing like enough men to storm the place. It is curious, though.”

“What?” Jamie asked. “The king being told that he is not the king? Happens every day, surely?”

Stephen swatted at the snarky bastard. Of course he missed.

“No”, he said. “The king's nephew, the Elector Palatine. He was in the duke's party so he must have been in on the plot, yet he did nothing. I would wager that he will soon be abandoning his uncle and slipping down to where his allowance comes from – in other words, us – sooner rather than later.”

“So cynical, my love”, Jamie smiled. “You really need to have that cynicism worked out of you.”

Stephen was about to deny that when he saw the look on his lover's face. He gulped.

MDCXLII

Soon after, it was time for Luke to take another sudden and unexpected walk.

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Legal semantics. An ordinance was something that parliament could issue if the king could or would not sign a bill covering a certain matter, such as in this case the raising of an army. It was normally supposed to only be used if the monarch was either incapacitated or underage, but then these were not normal times._   
>  _2) The future King James the Seventh and Second, then eight years old._


	11. Sealed And Not Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April-May 1642.   
> A seal is stolen away as armed conflict draws ever nearer. One of the nastier sides of war makes itself apparent before the real fighting has even started, and several men switch sides. John Pym states the obvious and Luke decides on a new kilt while not saying something, which leads to another difficult conversation with his father.

**April 1642**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“I see that the Earl of Essex has withdrawn from court.”

Stephen silently gave thanks that the paucity of beds¹ in this day and age meant that two men sleeping in the same one did not automatically make the servants think.... well, the obvious. Also the correct; Jamie had gone and installed two shields above their bed back in Stalwarton, one his own Buchanan clan badge and the other a red, white and blue round horror with a big red star in the centre, to denote the rising star of the New World, America. 

The nobleman had certainly 'risen' last night. Time and again!

“That is hardly surprising”, he managed, quietly proud that he could still speak. “He has contributed nothing to the king's war effort which is fair considering the way he has been treated by the Stuarts, although I am sure that the king will feign shock and astonishment at such a totally unexpected betrayal!”

Jamie chuckled at his lover's words.

“There is, however, some possibly more serious news from the royal court just now”, he said. “Diana sent us a note and I read it when I went down to collect breakfast, what with you being unable to manage the stairs!”

Stephen pouted. That was just mean, even if it was arguably not that far from being sort of true. Perhaps.

“What is it?” he said, unable to stifle a yawn that inevitably elicited another smirk from some well-hung bastard in the vicinity.

“The unpleasant Anthony Stark will soon be there”, Jamie said. “He is currently in Prince Rupert's entourage while that young buck pays service to the queen in her foreign travels, but he will soon be back in England and joining the king.”

“Did you ever come across him in your time in Germany?” Stephen asked, shuddering as his lover ran his hand up the nobleman's chest and smirked far too much for someone who had only rocked his world four times the night before.

“He is only twenty-two now so he was too young”, Jamie said. “Incredible though it seems I have been home for over a decade now, although I suppose that I have found a thing or two to occupy my time!”

He began to work Stephen's cock again, and the nobleman moaned. This horn-dog would surely kill him through sex one of these days!

Oh well. If he had to go, that was definitely the way to go!

MDCXLII

**April 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

“If we wanted proof of how many amateurs the king has”, Stephen said, “he has just delivered it. Incredibly he has tried to besiege Hull!”

His lover looked oddly thoughtful, and did not immediately agree with him. Stephen looked across at him in surprise.

“It may be a cleverer tactic that it looks”, Jamie said. “Despite the warnings Pym has not yet moved to secure one of the most important pieces on the board in this game.”

“Which is?” Stephen asked.

“The Navy”, Jamie said. “Paid for by the king's taxes but full of sailors who have been brought up on tales of Elizabethan derring-do and who loathe the current king's walking hand in hand with his Spanish cousin. Sooner or later one side or another will make a move to seize control of them; this may be a move by the king to test the feeling on board as he will not be able to besiege Hull unless he has ships to blockade it.”

“You mean he thinks that by summoning those ships whose captains are more likely to back him, he might at least win over their ships?” Stephen suggested.

His lover shook his head.

“You forget that Northumberland is still in charge of the Navy”, he said, “although I doubt that he will last long after he took that small force to Ireland late last year against the king's orders. The king has not sacked him solely because if he did, he would then be the highest-ranking nobleman to be against him, but he will have to do something soon. He may also have delayed because he was a close friend to Strafford, but word is that the earl is still furious at the king's betrayal of his friend.”

“What did you mean that time you called him a chewer?” Stephen asked.

“We will see two types of men who need watching during this conflict”, Jamie explained. “Chewers like Northumberland are men who think, whose principles make them chew over the arguments of both sides of the contention before choosing a side. Those I can understand and even respect up to a point; we had several of those back in Germany. I have no time for the other lot, the chancers. Vermin who have no principles and will back whichever side they think will win.”

“Surely many in the country will be unwilling to back either”, Stephen pointed out. “You said that this might all be decided in one set-piece battle.”

“That is what many are hoping”, Jamie said, “which is why we are hearing of many noblemen up and down the country signing these local neutrality pacts. That will be fine if the first big battle is decisive one way or another, but Diana thinks that the sides will be roughly balanced. A longer conflict will force men to take sides, and then we will see some of the horrors that I saw in Germany.”

He looked so sad that Stephen gestured for his lover to join him on the couch. Jamie strode swiftly over and lay down, his head on the nobleman's lap.

“You have not see what war does to a land, Ste”, he said quietly. “Families turning on each other, father fighting against son, brother against brother, and local lords using one side or another to pursue vendettas against their neighbours. I hope that once the king's few remaining supporters have given up on parliament, Pym can spare you for Stalwarton.”

“You are thinking young Eddie may come under attack?” Stephen asked, alarmed.

“As I said, war offers many reasons for foul acts which would otherwise end on the scaffold”, Jamie said. “That Anthony Stark might think to seize Stalwarton and arrange an 'accident' for his nephew, after which he would be in possession. Men reveal their darker sides in war, as I well know.”

Stephen pulled his lover closer and Jamie sighed, clearly finding memories of his past life painful. Especially as they might all too soon become part of his future life.

MDCXLII

**May 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

Stephen banged his desk in frustration.

“What is it, sir?” Luke asked, looking up from his work.

“Littleton² has fled!” Stephen said angrily. “I had hoped that he might stay with us, especially after he refused to put the seal to the arrest of the Five Members back in January, but he has slipped away to the king with the damn thing!”

“Is that the privy seal, sir?” Luke asked.

His father shook his head.

“There are two seals of office”, he said, “a monarch's privy or private one for personal documents and the Great Seal for important state documents. That the king has the latter will make many of the legal-minded out there think that he has the law on his side.”

“Cannot parliament just make its own seal?” the boy asked.

“They will in time”, Stephen said, “but not until this infernal war actually starts as otherwise it would seem like an act of aggression. Jamie was right about some men changing sides like this.”

“He is right about most things”, the boy said simply. 

Stephen looked at him warily. His son had a certain tone of voice that always presaged him asking for something or other, and he had long been wary of its appearance. It rarely boded well.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I was wondering if I might have a kilt like my uncle”, Luke said, looking anywhere but at his father. “I am nearly a man now, and I would like to have one for when I get married next year. Anne thinks that I would look very manly in it.”

“Would you want a Buchanan one like Jamie?” Stephen asked.

His son's reply caught him completely off-guard.

“I think that I would rather have a Graham one, sir.”

Once again the nobleman was aware of just how loud the tick of the grandfather clock really was. His son just stared at him.

“Why that one?” Stephen deflected. 

“I spoke to my uncle”, the boy said blithely. “His mother was a Graham, like Aunt Agnes. He does not know who his father is, or at least he told me that he does not know. But I think that you know, Father.”

Stephen blushed.

“I do”, he admitted. “It... is all rather difficult, Luke.”

The boy sighed heavily.

“I am nearly seventeen, sir”, he said plaintively. “There are few things you could say that would surprise me, I am sure.”

“His father was the late Prince Henry Frederick!"

Father and son stared at each other for what seemed to both like an eternity. Finally Luke spoke.

“And we all know how badly the Stuarts react to any rival claim”, he said. “Difficult indeed.”

He thought for some little time on the matter, then nodded.

“But I would still like a kilt, sir”, he said at last. “Two, if possible. Regular ones for the Graham and Buchanan clans; if anyone asks I can say that I have some ancestor in the latter.”

“Given the small population of Scotland that may even be true”, Stephen smiled. “Very well.”

“I was going to say that given what Uncle Jamie does to you every night, you have more Buchanan in you than me!” Luke said, making his father blush deeply. “But I will not say that.”

He strode off, having not said that.

MDCXLII

**May 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

With the king marching about the country and war still not officially declared, Stephen found himself increasingly anxious to get back to Stalwarton. He knew that Pym had drawn up lists of which members could be spared and which would be needed to be sent to their homes in order to lead the parliamentary cause in those areas. He only hoped that he was on one of those lists.

Today however things had taken a serious turn, as Diana told him when he and Luke went to the bakery where the boy was helping out that day.

“I hoped that you might be in”, she said, looking unusually worried for her. “Your friend Mr. Pym has just made a speech in which he has proclaimed that 'this king has made war on parliament'. Short of the fighting actually breaking out, this is it.”

This, Stephen knew, was it. Damnation!

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) This was just after the most famous bed bequest in history, when the late William Shakespeare had left his widow their second-best bed (because everyone asks, it was his sisters Susanna and Judith who got the best one). Two of the most heterosexual of the later new Model Army's officers, Henry Ireton and Thomas Harrison, shared a bed in Whitehall Palace just prior to the king's execution in 1649._   
>  _2) Edward Littleton (b. 1598). A Welsh judge who had been made Keeper of the Great Seal after Finch's flight the previous year._


	12. The Fleet Is In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June-July 1642.   
> Stephen learns of an incorporation over in the New World and receives an offer from the king that he can refuse. His elder brother turns up in a surprising place, Luke definitely does not cry, and most importantly of all a Rich man moves quickly much to the king's great discomfort.

**June 1642**   
**Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

It was not so much the content of the letter, or even its sender, that surprised Stephen that cold spring day. It was the fact that it had come in the Oxford mail.

Jamie looked at him in surprise as he read his letter.

“What is your brother doing down in Oxford?” he asked.

“To the outside world he is the rightful Earl of Bradstock as well as Baron Hexhamshire”, Stephen said, “while as far as most people know Eddie is just a bastard offspring who is being raised under his guardianship. I suppose that many people will see it as his visiting someone under his care for the first time....”

He read on some more.

“The king has pretty much declared Oxford his new capital”, he said. “Apparently one of his men learned of this before he deserted to his home in Haltwhistle, so he called in on Adey to let him know and he decided to come south as a result.”

“We all know how this king never misses an opportunity to grab any money and lands available”, Jamie said. “I wager that Adey fears he might try to take some of the estate lands or at least allow his men to pillage them, so as someone who had sent support to the king he is moving to be there ready. That is the way of modern soldiery; take first and pay back never!”

“He says that he wrote to me from Staward but is sending me this from Stalwarton as he wants to be sure I am made aware”, Stephen said, reading on. “He is probably wise to come.”

“He has not given anything away, has he?” Jamie asked worriedly. “We all know how trustworthy the Royal Mail is these days.”

“He is just coming south to see family who he has not seen in a while”, Stephen said as he finished his letter, “or never seen in Edward's case. He says that he hopes I will be able to join him there. That is good, as it will give me another reason to ask Pym for leave. The king has hardly any supporters left in the Commons now, while the Lords is half-empty.”

“We are finally nearing the start of this war”, Jamie sighed. “May the Good Lord send that it be a quick one.”

MDCXLII

**June 1642**  
 **Westminster, Middlesex, ENGLAND**

There was good news for Stephen the very next day, as he was one of those members who Pym thought would better serve the cause by being in their home counties. If the king did make Oxford his capital then Stalwarton could function as a potential source of information as to royal activities.

Luke was of course sorry to be leaving London, especially as Anne would be going with her father to his native Fens where the latter would be raising an army for parliament. Neither Stephen nor Jamie saw the young Amerike sneak up to his room, nor did they see his tear-stained face later that day. Because being a parent, of any sort, is all too often not seeing such things.

MDCXLII

**June 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The three were lucky enough to join a convoy heading through the Chilterns direct to Oxford before it continued on to Chester, and they made the journey home in four days. Stephen smiled when he noted that his brother wisely allowed young Edward be the one to greet them; they boy had definitely grown up during their absence even if he was still only twelve and Jamie made a point on remarking on the changes, which led to the boy blushing and Luke covertly rolling his eyes at his father.

“I had one more piece of news for you that reached me just before I left Northumberland”, Aidan said as they all sat down that evening. “Our far-off brother John has been blessed with a second son whom he has called Reginald, I think after his wife's father.”

“Far-off enough”, Stephen snorted. “How much money did he ask for this time, pray?”

Aidan shook his head at his brother's cynicism, but had to blush when Stephen returned his look.

“The usual”, he admitted. “And I sent back the usual; one pound for each full week during his teenage years when he did not annoy me in some way.”

“Nothing?” Jamie guessed with a smile. Aidan nodded.

“Frankly I should have sent him a bill!” he snorted. “When Ted Batson came and told me about the king's designs on Oxford I did not like the idea of him sniffing around this place while you were in London, for he must surely have you on one of those lists that he is so fond of compiling when it comes to people who have offended him.”

“Never mind a list, he should have a set of encyclopaedias!” Luke snorted.

The three men all laughed at that.

“And something else has happened here, on the day you set out from London or else I would have written to you”, Aidan said. “It is rather grim, I am afraid. The king has offered me a large chunk of land in the west of Ireland if I provide troops to go over and fight for him there.”

Stephen and Jamie both flinched at that.

“What is wrong with that, sir?” Luke asked, surprised. 

“You refused of course”, Stephen said.

“I had no wish to put my neck in that particular noose”, his brother said grimly.

“What noose?” Luke demanded. “Tell me!”

“I would like to know too, sirs”, Edward said politely.

“The king is going back to the old way of trying to conquer Ireland”, Jamie said. “He has little money and next to no income just now, so he is offering those who will send troops land in a conquered Ireland as a reward. Fool man!”

“Why?” Luke asked.

“Because not only will it make the Irish rebels think that they have nothing to lose so they will fight even harder”, Jamie said, “it will also swing many of the Old Irish, the Anglo-Norman lords who have 'gone native', to their side. Why should they trust a ruler who had promised to respect Strafford's agreements with them but is now handing out lands willy-nilly? Once again the king breaks his word for no good reason.”

“Though I suppose that if we win this war, then parliament will be forced to do exactly the same¹”, Stephen said. “Also many who are called on now will wonder; how near Ireland will any troops they raise actually get? We know that the king has already commandeered supplies for our troops over there 'in the public good' as he calls it. The thousands dying of cold and want in and around the Pale might well have other words for such thievery.”

“Now that you are here and are set to stay I can go back home”, Aidan sighed. “I am sure that many on my estate know of our little arrangement, but we are a quiet, out-of-the-way place that no-one really bothers about and long may it stay that way. Places like here on the other hand – things may be about to get rather interesting.”

MDCXLII

**June 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Finally”, Stephen sighed. “We sent those peace terms – the Nineteen Propositions as people are calling them – to the king ages ago, but only now has he finally declined to become a constitutional monarch. He has also told Northumberland that his services are no longer required.”

“That means that he may be about to make a bid for the Navy”, Jamie said. “I shall have to ride out to Wycombe to see Diana's fellow there and get him to take word to London. I am sure Pym will have other sources in the king's court – the thing leaks more than a sieve – but I would rather that he was told twice than not at all.”

“Take some of the men with you”, Stephen said. “And Luke. He is old enough now, much as I will spend his absence fretting and biting my nails.”

“What good father would not?” Jamie asked with a smile. “You said that Adey had some other news from your pestilential little brother that he forgot to tell you until he was about to leave. Anything of import?”

Stephen shook his head.

“Just that a place called Gorgeana² in the Massachusetts Bay Colony has become the first town over there to incorporate itself”, he said. “Our colonies, like my son, are growing up and coming of age. Given the size of their continent they may one day have more people than us.”

“Only if they can overcome the Swedes, the Dutch, the French and the Spanish all aiming to do the same”, Jamie smiled. “I will go and tell your son of his forthcoming task.”

MDCXLII

**July 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Yes!”

Stephen punched the air in triumph, much to the surprise of everyone else at the breakfast-table. 

“The Navy?” Jamie guessed. 

His lover nodded.

“The king sent Pennington to secure the fleet in the Downs”, he said, “but he was unsure of his reception so dithered. Parliament got word and asked Robbie Rich³ to go there. Between an absent king's man and a soldier who spent his own money fighting the Spanish while our king took their coin, all but five of the ships came over to him. He surrounded them and they caved. Apart from a few ships that were elsewhere, the fleet is ours!”

“That is good”, Jamie smiled, “as the merchants of parliament depend on safe seas for their trade income. Also it will mean that we can keep places like Hull supplied, plus other places in the king's lands which might declare for us. He cannot march on London while he has hostile forts ready to leap out and reclaim the countryside behind him.”

“I thought that you said most of the country would back the king, sir?” Luke asked. 

“I meant geographically”, Jamie explained. “The king can expect support in over half the country, but it will be the poorer half, counties like your father's native Northumberland. The richer counties of the south and east will be for parliament, and with them we can hold our own until the king's money runs out.”

“But what if he receives help from abroad?” Luke asked. “You did say that that was a possibility.”

“I also said that you might be struck by a rock falling from space!” Jamie grinned. “That is also a possibility – and yes, I caught you ducking when I said it.”

The boy pouted at him.

“The south also contains most of the iron furnaces in Sussex⁴ which will supply our weapon-smiths”, Jamie said. “And although the king probably has nearly all the wealthy landowners, they cannot turn their estates into income quickly unless they sell it, whereby it is gone never to return. No, this gives us an excellent chance in the forthcoming contention – if we do not blow it.”

MDCXLII

Ah.

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) He was right._   
>  _2) Named for Sir Ferdinando Gorges (1568-1647). His death and conflicts arising out of the English Civil Wars led Massachusetts to claim his lands and Gorgeana was re-incorporated as York in 1652, the second settlement in what would later become the state of Maine after nearby Kittery (1647)._   
>  _3) Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick (b. 1589), connected by marriage to several leading parliamentarians. Several places in the New World are named for him, including Warwick (Rhode Island), Warwick Parish (Bermuda) and the Richneck Plantation, the forerunner of Newport News VA._   
>  _4) The civil wars provided an Indian summer for the Sussex furnaces, which had in recent years lost out badly to the larger and more powerful ones appearing in Yorkshire. But while that area remained divided during the early years of the war, the Sussex ones again became important and, as we shall soon see, a Royalist target._


	13. Delisting And Disgusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> July-August 1642.   
> A good deed pays dividends as Stephen's name is first on and then off one of the king's 'little lists'. There is a small skirmish in Somersetshire which starts the actual fighting off on an ominous note. And the king makes a fateful decision which will later cripple his efforts in a key part of the country.

**July 1642**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Either that woman is a witch or she is from another planet!” Stephen exclaimed.

Jamie looked at him in confusion for a few moments until he figured it out.

“Diana?” he asked.

Stephen nodded.

“This is a transcript of what was said in a supposedly private conversation between the king and his Council four days ago”, he said. “In that time it has been taken to London, verified, then returned here to us.”

“Is the king planning something?” Luke asked.

“He may have been”, Stephen said. “He read a list of local landowners who, in his opinion, had not adequately supported the just cause; in other words, his. The name 'Bradstock' was on that list.”

“I wonder if that rat Stark is behind it?” Jamie mused. Stephen shook his head. 

“Diana covered that – she really should be running the country with her powers – and checked but he is still making his way across country with Prince Rupert's cavalry, that gentleman having ridden ahead to see his uncle. A pity that he was able to get into the country before we had full control of the Navy; he will be a great asset to the king if he uses him wisely.”

“That would be a first!” Jamie scoffed. “You speak as if there has been a change of mind, though?”

“There was”, Stephen said. “No-one dared disagree with the king of course, but the Prince of Wales spoke out that our family had done his a great service in London and should not be troubled. The king immediately closed the meeting and drew the prince away, presumably to question him. The list when re-issued no longer had our name on it.”

“That is a relief”, Jamie smiled. “We owe Diana another debt of gratitude, although even I am impressed that she has gotten someone into the king's Oxford court so quickly.”

“I know the answer to that one”, Stephen said. “She knew that even those at the top are averse to change and so offered certain gentlemen at the court the chance to keep using her cleaning services after they had left London. And as every homeowner knows, no-one ever notices the servant or cleaning-lady working away while the masters of the house talk. We have had a lucky escape there thanks to both her and the prince, and we must hope that our luck continues to hold.”

MDCXLII

**July 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Stephen sighed, then put the letter to one side.

“We are nearly there”, he told Jamie. “Now we have had the first official death in this contention, at least in England.”

“How?” Jamie asked.

“Courtesy of that idiot Strange¹”, Stephen sighed. “A braggart and a blowhard, he was making moves towards Manchester so the burghers there invited him to a banquet, thinking to defuse the situation. He turned up with a large and well-armed posse, and someone started a fight in which one of his men was shot dead. He himself was driven out but he will be back; the town's position makes it strategically important.”

“At least the king is finding that raising an army is as hard as it was in 1638 and 1640”, Jamie said. “He has been forced to fall back on letting his chief supporters raise and pay for armies of their own, which of course they will want to command despite not knowing one end of a pike from the other.”

“Did you not say that the king was trying some legal thing, sir?” Luke asked.

“The Commissions of Array”, Jamie said. “Like so many of this king's favourite things they are an emergency measure which, I suppose now he has created his own emergency, might be valid for once. They are the reverse of parliament's Militia Ordinances, allowing the king to raise men on a local level without parliament – if he can.”

“He will also be after the Trained Bands, like Pym is”, Stephen said. “But London apart they will refuse to serve beyond their own boundaries, and will mutiny if anyone tries to make them. That is only fair; their purpose is to defend their homes and it is more than a stretch to tell them that that involves marching halfway across England!”

MDCXLII

**July 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Jamie had to read the letter twice before he quite comprehended it.

“How on earth could the king be so stupid?” he wondered aloud. “I know that Jay is one of the best commanders this country has, but taking him away from somewhere as divided as Plymouth was always going to be asking for trouble. And trouble is what he has got!”

“Jay?” Stephen asked.

He had thought to keep his voice even, but he had forgotten how sharp his lover was. Jamie chuckled.

“Sir Jacob Astley² fought alongside me in Germany; he was one of the best men out there”, he said with an annoying smirk. “He must be over sixty now, so you can put those green eyes away, Ste.”

The nobleman scowled at his lover's teasing.

“And he is a good fighter?” he asked.

“If you mean is he married, then yes” said someone who was in imminent danger of sleeping alone that night. “He came to Germany on Princess Elizabeth's ill-starred marriage to Elector Frederick, and married a Dutch woman with whom he has I think three children.”

Stephen pouted at him.

“Then why is the king stupid to have employed him?” he asked reasonably.

“Because the West Country is one of the areas that he might expect a lot of support”, Jamie said, “and his absence has enabled our men in Plymouth to seize the town. A small place but easy to defend as its fortifications extend to the sea; like Hull, besieging it without ships is all but impossible. And like Hull, the king can hardly raise an army in the west and bring it to Oxford without allowing our men to come out once it has gone and retake the area.”

“I see.”

“Although I do so enjoy you being jealous, Ste”, Jamie grinned. “Want to work out some of that on me right now?”

The nobleman sighed. His lover was quite insatiable... and why was he sitting there while that gorgeous arse headed for the door?

MDCXLII

“Is your father well, Luke?”

It was a few hours later. The elder boy looked curiously at young Edward Stark.

“I think so”, he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Only Mr. Buchanan came down a while back and took up a large jar of unguent that I know arrived from London last week.”

Luke sent up a silent wish that he were adopted. Or for a lightning bolt on those two reprobates. They were just terrible!

“I did ask, but he said that your father was rather sore”, Edward said. “And that he had been riding a lot. I thought that rather odd; I was sure that he had not been out all day.”

Luke prayed even harder, and for once it seemed that the Good Lord was in an obliging mood as the dinner-gong sounded. He breathed a sigh that may or may not have been one of relief and led the way to the dining-room. 

Where they were joined by some bastard soldier who was smirking far too much for any gentleman, for reasons that the boy desperately tried not to think about but that certainly involved the wreckage of his father lying upstairs! And then Jamie said that the head of the household could not manage the stairs just now so he was going to take some food up 'and let him have it'! 

Where was a damn apocalypse when you needed one?

MDCXLII

**August 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“The king has lost London completely now”, Stephen said to his lover a few days later. 

Jamie just grinned at him, and the nobleman shifted uneasily on his cushion. Taking the lead should have made him feel in charge, damnation, not fearing that his poor cock might be broken through overuse!

“How so?” the soldier smiled.

“They have put the mayor in the Tower after he tried to read out the king's Commission of Array”, Stephen said, “and even more of the king's supporters have slipped away to join him.”

“Or to protect their own lands”, Jamie observed shrewdly. “I saw a lot of that in Germany, allegedly loyal commanders who suddenly came down with a severe attack of C.Y.O.A. Syndrome.”

“C.Y.O.A.?” Stephen asked, confused.

“Covering Your Own Arse!” Jamie grinned. “Looking to the welfare of their own lands before all else – though I suppose like you, it could be taken another way.”

Stephen blushed fiercely. The previous night he had fucked his lover while the bastard had actually been able to suck his own cock. No man should have been able to be that flexible, especially as he had then snapped his legs around the nobleman and dragged two orgasms out of him in quick succession. And then fucked him afterwards. Twice!

Hence the cushion.

“You had a letter from Cromwell”, Jamie said. “As well as reminding Luke about his forthcoming marriage and certain restrictions arising thereof, he told me that he is indeed raising a troop of his own men for us but is also having to make sure that the eastern counties are secure. They will be one of our main sources for men after London, so they are important.”

“I will admit that he scares me”, Stephen said, “especially what with your rescuing the Prince of Wales. We seem to have a foot in both camps, and while some may think that a good thing I fear for the end of this contention.”

“The end may be a long way off, I am afraid”, Jamie sighed. “But at least your end is ready for me any time I desire it.”

Stephen shook his head at him. The bastard really was.... oh come on, at this time of day?”

MDCXLII

At this time of day.

MDCXLII

**July 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Luke eyed his father warily. The nobleman had the sort of look on his face that suggested he was far from happy.

“Bad news from the war, sir?” the boy asked carefully.

Stephen sighed.

“There has been a minor skirmish at a place called Marshall's Elm, near Glastonbury in Somersetshire”, he said.

That did not seem particularly noteworthy, but the boy knew that there had to be more to it.

“And?” he pressed.

“Our man John Stawell³”, he sighed. “He won the encounter such as it was, then had to withdraw because he had such a small force. But when it came to talking terms, he refused to release the bodies taken. Ye Gods, not even a major battle in this contention yet we have already come to this?”

“Uncle Jamie says that war brings out the worst in men”, Luke said. “Are we safe here, do you think?”

“For now”, Stephen said. “I am paying a regular assessment to the king in my brother's name and we are also funding the small garrison up at Chipping Norton, which is important now that Stratford has declared for us. But we will have to keep our eyes open for trouble, as it may come at us with little if any warning.”

"Like Uncle Jamie comes at you, I suppose", Luke smiled.

His father glared at him.

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) James Stanley, Baron Strange (b. 1607). He was Earl of Derby in all but name as his father has recently retired and had appointed him to run the estate, to which he would succeed when Earl William died that September. Theirs was one of the richest families in England but also with a weak claim to the English throne by descent from the Tudors, hence never quite trusted by King Charles. With good reason for once; James was vain, silly and bad-tempered, and his mishandling of his home county of Lancashire led to.... we will see._   
>  _2) Sir Jacob Astley (b. 1579). A deeply honourable man and a former tutor of Prince Rupert, he would go down in history for two famous phrases, one at either end of the First Civil War._   
>  _3) John, Baron Stawell (b. 1600). A rich West Country landowner who raised five regiments for the king. He was also the nephew of the ill-starred Mervyn, Earl of Castlehaven._


	14. And So It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August-September 1642.   
> After a nautical experience poor Luke opens the wrong drawer and sees.... nothing – which unfortunately leads him to ask the wrong sort of question. The king raises his standard to declare the official start to the war, but it falls down soon afterwards. And a small battle near Worcester helps bring the king's able young nephew Prince Rupert to everyone's attention – a man with a poodle!

**August 1642**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Well, it is formal now”, Stephen said a few weeks later. “The king has raised his standard at Nottingham, proclaiming all who are against him as traitors. Apparently it blew down later the same day, and the number of men who enlisted is described by the news-sheets as 'less than hoped'.”

“I think that that translates from news-speak as 'pitiful'”, Jamie grinned. “I wonder at him choosing such a place with both Yorkshire and Lancashire uncertain towards him, but I suppose that it had to be somewhere. Although marching his rabble all the way down to Coventry to deal with that gang of thieves there to decide that he did not want to risk a battle and marching them all the way back – it does not betoken good leadership.”

“At least they have clear leadership”, Stephen said. “No-one can doubt that Charles Stuart is in charge.”

“Yes, but he only listens to men who tell him what he wants to hear”, Jamie pointed out. “That is no strategy for war. Essex on the other hand is cautious – perhaps too cautious – but then we have London and can sit on the defence while the king has to break into the capital before his money runs out. I doubt that the earl can win the war for us, but the important thing is that he does not lose it.”

“The king has already lost the few ships that he had when the bulk of the Navy chose to serve under Warwick”, Stephen said. “I know that he hopes for help from abroad, but the French and Spanish are at each other's throats while the Dutch are split, Frederick Henry supporting him but his merchants largely backing us. I am worried about the king's Danish relations though; they still have a good navy and may help him.”

“We will soon see”, Jamie said. “The king is moving down to Oxford but I cannot see that lasting for long; he will need a bigger army before taking on Essex.”

“I shall have to send another gift to mark his advent”, Stephen sighed. “As if the estate workers do not do enough for this king already.”

MDCXLII

**August 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

There was more news the very next day, and it was good.

“We have taken Portsmouth”, Stephen told his lover. “Not that there was any doubt it would happen especially after the king lost Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Goring has slipped away worse luck, but we have a large port to bolster our defences of Sussex and the ironworks.”

“I was hoping as much”, Jamie said. “I got a sailor's hat while we were in London.”

“Why?” Stephen asked curiously.

“So I could celebrate these naval victories by fucking you while wearing just the hat!” Jamie grinned. 

Stephen just shook his head at him. The fellow was.... oh well, he had had nothing planned for that afternoon anyway.

MDCXLII

**September 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“As the letter arrives the man leaves”, Jamie observed. “The king, like the summer, is in flight.”

“Only to the Welsh March so he can raise more men”, Stephen said. “He will be heading back to London as Essex heads out to meet him. The earl has said that he means to base himself at Worcester, which I suppose is as good a place as any.”

“Provided that he sends out regular patrols to stop his enemy getting by him”, Jamie pointed out. “That was something that I found so hard to get into the skulls of commanders back in Germany; they seemed to think like this king that God would just provide. It was much better in the Bishops' Wars when we had patrols keeping us informed of the king's movements all the time.”

“Uncle Jamie is looking back to the good old days!” Stephen teased. 

“Uncle Jamie might remember to remove a certain item of nautical headwear before heading off to the bathroom of a morning”, Luke grumbled. “And not singing sea-shanties!”

Stephen blushed at his son's words, not helped when 'someone' again managed to strut while seated. 

“Pym says that the last of the king's supporters have left Westminster now”, Stephen said quickly, ignoring a smirk in the vicinity that was just annoying. “And he says that the Northern Royalists have asked the Earl of Newcastle¹ to lead them. Do you know him, Jamie?”

“I am afraid I do”, the soldier sighed. “I do not know why the king did not appoint him as his main man in the North as he is a good soldier, who knows when to fight and when not to fight. A bit vain, though.”

“I rather fear that the time to fight will be soon”, Stephen said, “especially now that we are nearly in autumn. The roads will be unusable in a few months' time so a decisive action is needed, and quickly.”

“It is all rather medieval in a way”, Jamie said. “Both sides are hoping for one decisive battle and let the chips fall where they may.”

“Rather like ancient times when men sent their champions out to fight rather than risk the slaughter of thousands”, Stephen said.

“Then I would be your champion”, Jamie smiled, “ready to uphold your honour with all my strength.”

“You were certainly upholding something last night!” Luke grumbled. “And then singing about it all this morning!”

Stephen blushed. And there was no reason for someone to strut like that!

All right, there was. Leave a man some pride, damnation!

MDCXLII

**September 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Sir?”

Stephen looked up to see young Edward Stark looking expectantly at him.

“Yes sir?” he asked politely.

“I have had a letter from my uncle”, the boy said, “which I thank you for letting me read first. He states that there has been another small skirmish as the king retreated through Worcester and the advance forces of Lord Essex nearly caught him. Prince Rupert, who you know is his liege, beat them off and the royal army continues to head west.”

“He is looking to reinforcements from the Welsh March”, Stephen said. “And he will find them.”

“Why would that area support him, sir?” Edward asked.

“Because of all the wool-traders and farmers in the area”, Stephen explained. “In his time of power the king defended their interests against the London merchants, so now they will show their gratitude. Did your uncle say anything else?”

The boy hesitated.

“He sounded rather cross at the way that the king is organizing things”, he said carefully. “And that his own master's role is unclear. But he expects to take lots of loot once they return east. I shall leave the letter with you to read, sir.”

The boy bowed, placed the letter on the table and left. Stephen sighed and took it up.

MDCXLII

**September 1642**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

It was, in one sense, Luke's own fault. He had been reading downstairs while his father had been working at some papers across the room, and the nobleman had expressed irritation at the fact that he had forgotten to bring a letter down from his bedroom. So the boy had obligingly volunteered to go up and fetch it. He had found it easy enough and had made the mistake of reading the thing. 

It was from his Uncle Jamie who had left to join the Earl of Essex's army the previous week, and.... ugh! Although the phrases in it were seemingly innocent enough, Luke knew from bitter experience just what the soldier meant when talked about being 'in harness' when he was back here.... oh no!

A horrible thought crossed the boy's mind. Surely not? Even his father would not have.... would he?

A smarter boy might have left the room while his sanity was still (fairly) intact, but Luke found himself eyeing the bedside cabinet and wondering.... no, he really was better off not knowing.

Unfortunately some part of his brain which had a sadistic nature had controlled his limbs such that he had opened the drawer and was staring in horror at the where a certain object was very clearly not there. His father was terrible!

Wishing for possibly the millionth time that he was adopted, he went back downstairs and handed the letter over.

“Thank you”, Stephen smiled. “That is the second piece of good news that has come in the post in two days.”

“What was the first, sir?” Luke asked, trying not to think of a certain image.

“The Earl of Derby tried to get the Trained Bands of Cheshire to lay siege to the town of Manchester”, Stephen said, “but they refused even though it is but five miles beyond their county border. Warfare is going to be difficult indeed with attitudes like that.”

He finally seemed to notice his son's discomfiture.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

Luke blushed deeply, but much as it might scar him for life he had to know.

“Are you wearing it?” he demanded.

The nobleman blushed fiercely, which pretty much gave the boy his answer.

“Wearing what?” Stephen deflected.

“That damn harness!” Luke hissed. “I know that it has a key and it is not in your bedside cabinet drawer.... Father!”

Stephen sighed but nodded.

“It is not actually that uncomfortable”, he said with a knowing smile, “although some of those leather straps do rub a bit!”

Luke just cried.

MDCXLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (b. 1593). A skilled commander who the king never fully rewarded for some reason, he was made a marquis in 1643 but fled the country after Marston Moor the following year. He was later made a duke but the title died out with his son Henry._


End file.
